The consequences of prolonged precipitation

Had the higher power not sent the sprinkle while I was shooting the spring beauties in my front yard, I would not have the water drops to capture. Keep in mind that this bloom is in the neighborhood of a quarter inch across at the widest point.

Finally, this afternoon (Sunday, March 13), we got a break in a tad over six days of belt-fed liquid sunshine here in LA – close to making Noah’s flood look like a morning dew. As I glanced out the kitchen window I noticed that our camellia and the wild spring beauties in the front yard had gone berserk in bloom production. Though we took a glimpse of these flowers a couple of weeks back, the rain has changed the game, so here we go again.

Our recent spate of rainy days kicked these spring beauties into the turbo mode in my front yard as shown in this turtle’s eye view.

I grabbed tripod, Kodak, macro lens, tripod and ground cloth and made haste to the front yard. As I got the rig ready to shoot the camellia, the rain began again, just a trickle, but promising to increase in intensity and frequency of drops.

A group of just sprinkled spring beauties stepping out of the shower are true to their name.

Click the poesy and our favorite camellia in all it’s glory on the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot-com.

As I concluded shooting the camellia and spread the ground cloth the assume the uncomfortable but necessary supine position to shoot the spring beauties at ground level, the sprinkles intensified.

I managed to grab a few but not all of the shots I wanted, folded my tent and went back inside, tripping over the ground cloth and colliding with mother earth in the process.

Fortunately, my person and my camera and lens are unscathed as a result of the untimely collision. By the way, be sure and see our red camellia on its best behavior on the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot-com.

Here’s another family portrait of some spring beauty cousins adjacent to the bunch above. In a week or so, the lawn mower will convert them to smithereens, but they will faithfully return next year for their welcome annual performances.

Minutes after that, the rain subsided, so I repaired to the yard and began the process one more time. As I concluded the second session, the almighty started to deliver some more serious rain drops, reminding me who is in charge, and don’t you forget it.

Joe Dempsey
Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind

http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html

 

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