Goldpetal Farms sunflowers

 I visited Goldpetal earlier in the season late in the day for some pretty sunflower and zinnia photos.  I stayed for a rainbow and sunset.  I wasn't in a very good position for the rainbow and the sunflowers were super high at the time, but I did what I could.  There were some really interesting tall clouds that day too. 

Sunflowers in the Zinnia garden

sunflower bud

Striped sunflowers

Cool clouds

Different angle for a bee photo.

Swallowtail butterfly

Butterfly Season is Here

I cut some lavender colored lilacs recently and got to see my first butterflies this Spring.  I grabbed my cell phone and photographed a few Eastern Tiger Swallowtails with nice complimentary colors, purple and yellow.  There were lots of busy bees too, so I moved very slowly.

Summer in Shenandoah

We took a very brief weekend trip to Shenandoah National Park and took a short hike to Black Rock summit so we could see all the rocks. We also attended a lecture on birds of prey & met a tiny eastern screech owl. When photographing animals I always focus on their eyes and try to blur out distracting backgrounds or simplify them.