God Is An Artist, Part IV: Sunflower Infatuation

Have I mentioned before how much I'm loving the sunflowers we planted in the garden this summer?

They're in full bloom, and are just incredible! I actually pulled out the big ladder the other night to grab these shots. I'm glad I did, because it was the very next day that they started to droop under the weight of their amazing (and massive) flowers.

I love this first shot. It just says "summer" to me...carefree, sunny, wispy, bright. And the yellow petals against that clear blue Idaho sky is something to behold! As I played with this photo in Lightroom, I had a hard time deciding on a favorite. It seems that each of the following variations brings a different emotion to the photo. Vibrance and fun....romance and gentleness...stark beauty. Which is your favorite?

It's a good thing that bumblebees are not frightened off by squeals of joy, because that's exactly what came from my mouth when I saw this guy land right where I was shooting. Thank you, Lord!

The textures in a sunflower are so delightfully varied. These next two shots show it well.

There's something about this shot I'm not crazy about. It's just too...flat. Boring. I played and played, but couldn't figure out a way to make it pop. But again, it shows some nice textures, so I thought I'd put it up.

And then there's the lovely "red" sunflowers we planted. They're not at big as the yellow monsters...but they sure are pretty :)

"Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land."

Song of Solomon 2:12