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Sunflowers at McKee Beshers Wildlife Management Area – 2015

by hankinslawrenceimages | Jul 22, 2015 | Asteraceae Family, Flowers

McKee Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Poolesville, Maryland is my favorite place to photograph sunflowers every summer. Montgomery County plants several fields of sunflowers – and for a brief time in either July or August – the fields are in full bloom – with hundreds of photographers and artists enjoying the beautiful flowers.

This year – the sunflowers bloomed a little early – peak started fourth of July weekend and was pretty much done in the main field a week later. I spent a couple of hours photographing with my new Sony a6000 camera one morning. The sunflowers gave me a chance to work with the Sony 30mm macro lens on the a6000. Turns out that once I had the camera and lens on my tripod – it’s a great combination for close-up photos of sunflowers. Most of the photos I took that morning were taken with the 30mm macro lens.

Here are a few of my photos showing the wonderful details in the blooming sunflowers.

Since I just took these photos a few days ago, I haven’t had a chance to make any of them available as prints yet. I do have several sunflower photos taken in previous years available as matted prints and as gallery wrapped canvases on my website at http://beautifulflowerpictures.com/collection/asters/sunflowers/

In the Studio: Sunflowers

by hankinslawrenceimages | Oct 20, 2014 | Asteraceae Family, Flowers, In the Studio

Sooner or later, you probably knew I’d end up photographing some sunflowers in my studio. They are some of my favorite flowers – and they seem to make everyone smile.

I’ll admit to being a bit challenged as to what to do with the sunflowers once I had them in the studio – it felt like every photo I tried – was just an indoor version of something I’d done in the field.

Sunflower in the Studio © 2014 Patty Hankins

So I took a bit of a break – and came back and looked at the sunflowers with a new eye – looking at the textures in the centers of the photos. I realized that under the controlled lighting conditions, I could see patterns, textures and shapes that I didn’t usually see in the field – so I focused in on them and tried to do a little something different with my photos. Hope you enjoy them 🙂

A Few Native Sunflowers

by hankinslawrenceimages | Sep 17, 2014 | Asteraceae Family, Flowers, Wildflowers

Everybody seems to know and love the big yellow flowers we all think of when you mention sunflowers. And there is nothing like photographing a field full of sunflowers. I’m lucky enough to do that almost every summer.

In addition to the traditional cultivated sunflowers I’ve also photographed several native plants known as sunflower – and thought I’d share a few of them here with you today.

Ox-Eye Sunflower – heliopsis helianthoides – is native to much of the eastern 2/3 of the United States. I photographed it in Pennsylvania

Southeastern Sunflower – helianthus agrestis – is native to Florida and Georgia. I photographed it at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida

Beach Sunflower – helianthus debilis – is native to coastal states from Texas to Maine, plus Pennsylvania and Michigan. I photographed the beach sunflowers at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida

And finally the Thin-Leaf Sunflower – helianthus decapetalus – which is native to most of the eastern half of the United States. I photographed it along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

Sunflowers 2014

by hankinslawrenceimages | Aug 1, 2014 | Asteraceae Family, Flowers

One of the highlights of the summer for flower photographers in the Washington DC area is when the sunflowers bloom at McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Poolesville, Maryland. This year, we actually have two distinct bloom periods for sunflowers. The first field of sunflowers bloomed in mid-July and these photos are from the July bloom.

The surprise this year is a second pair of fields of sunflowers is blooming in early August. I was out at McKee Beshers photographing sunflowers this morning. This is the first time I’ve photographed a field in full bloom this late in the season at McKee Beshers – and the great news is there is another field that should be at peak bloom next week.

So here are a few of my photos from the field that bloomed in July – I’ll post some of my photos from the August bloom soon 🙂

Sunflower Center – November 2011 Photo of the Month

by hankinslawrenceimages | Nov 5, 2011 | Asteraceae Family, Flowers, Photo of the Month

This is one of those photographs that I’ve been seeing in my imagination for a few years – and finally was able to create with my camera and share with you. I love sunflowers. Every summer Montgomery County plants at least one field of sunflowers at McKee Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Poolesville. I’ve photographed the flowers in the field several times, but I knew there were more photos waiting to be created there. I’m fascinated by the geometric patterns in the center of the sunflower, and how as the flower ages the center changes from the tight pattern to the circles of seeds that the birds love in the fall. I’d been wanting to create a photo with a tightly woven center, the beginnings of the seeds and the bright yellow petals. Finally this summer I found a sunflower in just the right light and in just the perfect stage of growth for the photo I’d been seeing in my mind. And so here it is – Sunflower Center. I hope you enjoy it.

Until November 30, 2011, SAVE 20% off the regular prices for Sunflower Center. The photograph is available through my website in two sizes of gallery-wrapped canvases.

Save $ 30 on the 12X18″ Canvas – regular price $ 147 – November Photo of the Month Price – $ 117.00

Save $ $ 110 on the 20X30″ Canvas – regular price $ 547 – November Photo of the Month Price – $ 437.00

Free shipping to U.S. Addresses for either size photograph.

As with all photographs from BeautifulFlowerPictures.com, Sunflower Center comes with my Unconditional Happiness Guarantee. You have one year to decide that it is the perfect photograph for you. If it’s not, just return it (in original condition) for a full refund.

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