Last week, I spent about an hour photographing Bearded Irises at Brookside Gardens – between the raindrops. The flowers were gorgeous, with great diffuse light provided by the cloudy sky. The only problem was – the occasional sprinkles that turned to a downpour.

Even with the weather – I came back with some wonderful photos of bearded irises.

The first cultivator I photographed was Monet’s Blue – the flowers are a lovely shade of light blue.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Then I found a wonderful deep purple iris to photograph – Grape Adventure.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Finally – Immortality – a white bearded Iris. I spent a fair amount of time with the Immortality Iris – I loved the play of shadows and light in the petals of the white flower.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I’m hoping to photograph more bearded irises in the next couple of weeks. They are one of my favorite late spring flowers.