by hankinslawrenceimages | Aug 21, 2015 | Caryophyllaceae Family, Flowers, Liliaceae Family, Papaveraceae Family, Tennessee, Wildflowers
As I was looking through the huge (and I do mean huge) pile of photos that I haven’t weeded, much less edited or shared on my hard drive – I found some of my wildflower photos from my trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from last spring. One of the challenges of taking lots of photos – is that I always feel like I’m behind on sharing my photos
So today I thought I’d share a few of my wildflower photos from last spring. I don’t have enough good photos of the flowers to do a separate blog post for each type of flowers – so am combining a few of them into one post
Wild Bleeding Hearts – dicentra eximia – is a delicate member of the Poppy family. I know a couple spots in the park where these bloom each year – if you look closely at some of my photos of wild bleeding hearts from the Smokies – you’ll see that many of them were taken in the same general area.
Wild Bleeding Hearts – dicentra eximia © 2015 Patty Hankins
Wild Bleeding Hearts – dicentra eximia © 2015 Patty Hankins
Fire Pinks – silene virginica – are about the only bright red spring wildflowers so it’s fairly easy to spot on the trails and roadsides. The challenge with fire pinks is finding them in good enough shape to photograph. The flowers are very delicate so it’s not uncommon to see pretty ratty looking Fire Pinks.
Fire Pinks – silene virginica © 2015 Patty Hankins
Fire Pinks – silene virginica © 2015 Patty Hankins
Fire Pinks – silene virginica © 2015 Patty Hankins
Yellow Trillium – trillium luteum – is one of the wildflowers that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is known for. Native only to Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky, I try to photograph them every time I’m in the park – since it’s the only time and place I’m likely to see them.
Yellow Trillium – trillium luteum © 2015 Patty Hankins
Yellow Trillium – trillium luteum © 2015 Patty Hankins
Yellow Trillium – trillium luteum © 2015 Patty Hankins
I haven’t had a chance to edit up any of these photos for sale yet – but I do have a number of other wildflower photos available, including several from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. You can see which of my wildflower photos are available as matted prints or gallery wrapped canvases in the Wildflower Gallery on my website.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Apr 27, 2015 | Flowers, New Photos, Papaveraceae Family, Texas
Prickly Poppies in the Wind © 2015 Patty Hankins
I’ve recently added a new photo – Prickly Poppies in the Wind – to my BeautifulFlowerPictures.com website.
This photo is the first photo I’ve ever offered for sale that is a composite photo. What you are looking at is actually a combination of ten photographs of the same set of wildflowers blowing in the wind.
Taken a couple of days after I photographed the Texas Wildflowers in the Wind – I photographed these wonderful white Prickly Poppies (argemone albiflora) along the side of the road on a windy day east of Austin, Texas. When I photographed them, I took a number of photos (somewhere around 30) with my tripod in exactly the same spot – hoping to stop the action of the moving flowers enough to capture a sharp image of these wonderful white wildflowers. When I looked at the photos on my computer – I wasn’t happy with any of them. Not a one of them was sharp in all the key spots – and captured the beauty of the flowers. So the images sat on my hard drive for several months.
Then last fall I took a workshop with George DeWolfe where he introduced us to a technique for stacking images to show motion in a photograph. As I watched the demo – and experimented with a few photos I took in a nearby field – I realized that this was the perfect technique for me to use on the prickly poppy photos. So when I got home I chose ten of the images of the white prickly poppies and stacked them into one file.
I was amazed at the results – I love how the final image looks. None of the flowers are in sharp focus – instead they seem to all be moving every which way – which is exactly what they were doing along the side of the road when I photographed them. I’d love to know what you think of my photo – and if you think it shows wildflowers dancing in the wind.
Prickly Poppies in the Wind is available as a matted print on my website.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Jan 12, 2015 | Flowers, New Photos, Papaveraceae Family
Along the Fence © 2014 Patty Hankins
I’ve recently added a new photo – Along the Fence – to my BeautifulFlowerPictures.com website.
Bleeding hearts (one of my favorite spring flowers) and cats – of course I’m going to photograph them together. When I saw this spectacular scene in the Children’s Garden at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden I know I had to photograph it. At the time – I called this the cutest garden fence ever – and nothing has happened to change my mind. I’ve displayed Along the Fence at a couple of shows and the reactions to it have been priceless. The number of people stopping, pointing and saying “It’s so cute!” has surprised even me. I can only hope this photo makes you smile as much as seeing the bleeding hearts along the fence made me smile.
This photograph is available as a matted photo. You can order Along the Fence from my website.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Aug 28, 2014 | 2015 Wildflower Calendar, Flowers, Papaveraceae Family, Wildflowers
Wild Bleeding Hearts © 2012 Patty Hankins
Wild Bleeding Hearts (dicentra eximia) are one of my favorite spring wildflowers. The soft pinks and purples of the blossoms look so beautiful against the green leaves.
I’ve only found the wild bleeding hearts a few times out in the wild – usually I see it in botanical gardens. My favorite spot for finding them in the wild is in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There is a large patch of them that I’ve photographed several times in the past few years growing right along the side of road on the way out to Cades Cove. Every year, I think I know where they are – and then can’t find them. What usually happens is I drive back and forth along that section of road – until I see a splash of pink out of the corner of my eye! Then it’s usually just a matter of a quick u-turn – hunting for a safe place to park – and I’m photographing in a sea of pink, purple and green just a short walk from my car.
Wild Bleeding Hearts are one of the wildflowers featured in my 2015 Wildflower Calendar. My calendar features photographs of twelve different wildflowers I’ve taken in recent years. Special early bird pricing is available on my 2015 Wildflower calendar until August 31, 2014.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Mar 28, 2014 | Flowers, Papaveraceae Family
Once again, Longwood Gardens put their famous blue poppies on display in March. I didn’t make it up there until almost the end of the display -so the flowers were a little past peak bloom when I saw them. But I did still find a few to photograph – and the light was very dramatic at times. So I had fun photographing the blue poppies – and got some different images than I’ve taken in the past.
Hope you enjoy my 2014 Blue Poppy photos 🙂
Blue Poppy © 2014 Patty Hankins
Blue Poppy © 2014 Patty Hankins
Blue Poppy © 2014 Patty Hankins
Blue Poppy © 2014 Patty Hankins
Blue Poppy © 2014 Patty Hankins
Blue Poppy © 2014 Patty Hankins
Blue Poppy © 2014 Patty Hankins
by hankinslawrenceimages | Mar 7, 2014 | Flowers, Papaveraceae Family, Wildflowers
I am so looking forward to spring and for the wildflowers to start blooming. Three of my favorite early spring wildflowers – Bleeding Hearts, Squirrel Corn and Dutchman’s Breeches – are all members of the Poppy Family. They bloom in the early spring before the leaves are on the trees putting the woods into shade
Dutchman’s Breeches – Dicentra Cucullaria – is often the first of the three to bloom
Dutchman’s Breeches © 2014 Patty Hankins
Dutchman’s Breeches © 2014 Patty Hankins
Squirrel Corn – Dicentra Canadensis – blooms within a few days of when the Dutchman’s Breeches start to bloom
Squirrel Corn © 2014 Patty Hankins
Squirrel Corn © 2014 Patty Hankins
Squirrel Corn © 2014 Patty Hankins
Squirrel Corn © 2014 Patty Hankins
And finally the Bleeding Hearts – Dicentra Eximia – blooms about ten days later.
Bleeding Hearts © 2014 Patty Hankins
Bleeding Hearts © 2014 Patty Hankins
Bleeding Hearts © 2014 Patty Hankins
Bleeding Hearts © 2014 Patty Hankins
Bleeding Hearts © 2014 Patty Hankins
Bleeding Hearts © 2014 Patty Hankins
Do any of these three wildflowers bloom in your area in the spring? Or is there another wildflower member of the poppy family you like? If there is – just let me know in the comments below.
