Paradise Lost (and suddenly found)

Even near the tail end of summer, there are gorgeous, lush flowers everywhere. I've been holed up indoors due to the heat, but I finally wandered out today. As I played around with a camera, I couldn't help but be drawn to these flowers. Here are some of my favorite photos. 


This one was just as vibrant, if not more so, in person. No fancy photo editing, nothing.

This picture was pure luck. I saw a bee in the bushes and leaned in to try and capture it in mid-motion. But I was too nervous and kept backing away. In the end, I was left with several pictures of the flowers in the bush (which I hadn't even noticed earlier) and none of the bee. But I came away pleasantly surprised at the chiaroscuro in this picture.

 I tried to find an angle that would block the cement from view, but ultimately couldn't. I ended up blurring out the background and focusing in on the flower. 

I had a similar problem with this picture, because I didn't want the dirt to be visible. But the flowers were in clumps that were sparsely located, so I was forced to simply blur the background. Still, I found these flowers stunning, both in shape and in color! 

This final photo gave me some trouble as well. The white flowers surrounding the "star" kept coming up too white and undefined. Eventually I just shrugged and went with it.



And that's it! So hopefully you leave feeling inspired to go outside and enjoy nature yourself. (: