Ah Monty Python, what a bunch of mad freaks you were. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check this out – Part 2. You really have to like MP to find it funny, but I always think of it when anyone mentions lupines. And the other day when I shot some, I hummed the song. Luckily half the words are humming anyway. ; )
I think some lupines around here are more blue, but the ones in the ‘vacant lot’ that had to be created for the new highway access are very, very purple indeed. I had to do a little white balance correction in post, but I didn’t touch any color or saturation sliders. Shooting flowers after rain while the sky is still overcast really produces images with punch!
I didn’t notice the slug in that one until post and thought it was kind of funny. It’s too bad about the fence in the bg, I opened up as much as I thought I could and still keep most of the closest flowers in focus, but it still bugs me. Being land that will probably get developed into some awful commercial enterprise someday, it’s all fenced off and posted. Oh well, it didn’t stop me getting up close.
Aren’t those fuzzy, little seed-pods the best? I got a couple of funny looks from some strolling ladies, but I’m used to that.
The area was also planted with daisys, what I think is a type of coreopsis, red clover, toadflax and has a pond and culvert full of cattails and frogs. There’s a paved path that basically leads nowhere in one direction and over the new bridge in the other. One of these days I’ll go over the bridge and see what’s there, but the other day it was all about the flowers. I couldn’t get one of those iconic landscapes of sweeping hills and trees, but I like the intimacy and the vibrancy of what I did get. Really though, I’m not really tempted since everyone goes to Sugar Hill for the lupine festival and it gets ugly as people compete to take the same photo over and over). Where’s the fun in that? Give me a vacant lot by the highway any day.
These are pretty fantastic.
Terrific shots for sure, but I’m at a loss why lupines are always so hot with NH photographers. The lupine plants themselves don’t do much for me. I must have a sub-par esthetic or something. Don’t care much for lilacs either, but my wife loves them and we have dozens around the yard.
I think it’s the unusual shape and the intense color and that sometimes they proliferate so much that the hillsides are washed with purple that does it. Still not tempted by Sugar Hill though with everyone jockeying to take the same picture. Eh. Whatev.