Floral, Midday, Macro

Photo hunt time! Karma has challenged us to show her what spring looks like where we live. You can check out her post for the hunt at Signs of Spring Photo Hunt. She included an additional challenge, for those brave enough to partake, of only using a prime lens if you have one (or set your zoom to one focal length). I accept!

The use of the prime lens fits in nicely with my recent love for my 50mm prime. But that is not the lens I chose to use, as my macro lens is also prime (105mm). I needed the macro, as my typical signs of spring are the flowers pushing through the winter blahs.

Although the weather has been crazy this past week, Saturday managed to be sunny and slightly warm. My “go-to” spot for early spring floral images is the rural cemetery. I can usually find daffodils, grape hyacinths, and a crocus or two. Upon arrival, my initial thought was that I would venture out without finding any images to capture. I wandered around, and I was rewarded with quite a few signs of spring…

And if you managed to make it all the way to the end of this post…

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
in such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

–William Wordsworth