Discovering Flowers

When I was a little girl, my dad was big into photography. Aside from taking pictures of my sister and myself, the things I remember him photographing most were flowers. At the time (and even up until today), I never understood the fascination with taking pictures of flowers. I mean, picture books of flowers are a dime a dozen, and, it's not like every dogwood flower has its own name (like people do). We had slides, negatives, and prints floating all around, each with an individual flower. Roses, tulips, apple blossoms, even four-leaf clovers. Each one's composition was impeccable, with the background blurred into oblivion to capture the crispness of the flower's details.

Well, my dad had an SLR camera.

Now I understand.

We went to a park today, and as is everything else around here right now, spring flowering trees were at peak. We were wandering down a trail, and I spotted a brilliant yellow shrub. (Anyone know what this is??) I raised my brand-new SLR to check it out, and suddenly yelled out in absolute wonder. I could not believe what I was seeing! Individual planes of depth lept out through the viewfinder, bringing some flowers into focus, and blurring others. And the crispness of detail was mouth-dropping. I was in wonder and awe.
I spent the next hour or so stalking down flowering trees, holding down their branches with one hand while I snapped pictures with the other hand.

Not that taking pictures of flowers is the only thing I'll be doing from here on out, but this has really opened my world up as far as photography goes. I stand in amazement.