Every so often, I need to take a time-out from the world and pull out my camera.  I need to take a picture of something which I see which I find inspiring.  As inspiration can hit at anytime, I must prepare or I need to make time for the shoot.  This time, I made some time for summer sunflowers.

I happened to see that a neighbor had been growing some summer sunflowers.  They have gotten big and are blooming.  It was time for me to pull out my camera and add some domesticated sunflowers to my portfolio.  I already have a few shots of wild sunflowers.  I wanted some tamed ones too.

It was a bit tricky to get this shoot set up.  It had been raining daily.  This meant less than ideal conditions for my camera.  I don’t shoot in the rain.  I also wanted the golden light of sunset since the flowers were facing west and there is a building blocking the golden light of sunrise from warming the flowers in the morning.

Once the rain finally calmed down and I had some time, I grabbed my camera and got to work on some flower photos.  The sunflowers were nice and big, making subject matter easy to deal with there.  I had my macro lens too.  That added several options for me in the creative department.  Still, I settled down and went to work.

I ended up with several very bright and yellow photos of sunflowers but there was one which stood out from the rest.  It really stood out when desaturated.  The monochrome look really enhanced the photo so I ran with it.

This look really sets off the various textures which a sunflower has.  From the veins in the petals to the geometric pattern of the developing seeds, there is a lot of texture in the photo.  I’m happy to add it to my photography portfolio.