PHOTO ESSAY. NATURE.
Be Like a Sunflower and Turn Your Face to the Sun
Sunflower romance in the sunset light
Y’all know yellow is my favorite color. And we all know sunflowers are yellow. So yes, this is my happy season. When the fields are shining from near and far in the brightest golden yellow.
And yes, I can see it from the sky. While my tandem passengers might be filled with adrenaline trying to understand they just jumped from a plane and are now hanging underneath a parachute — I am busy pointing out all the yellow in the landscape.
It’s just such a happy color. Fields of sunflowers stretching in front of cornfields, lush green meadows, and dark pine forests.
And then there is this one sunflower field right next to our trailer park. It is the extension of the landing zone. Yes, whoever misjudges the wind, ends up in a field of sunflowers.
It could be worse, I’d say.
And while I keep on flying above this field of golden blooming beauties, I never took the time to capture the sunflowers.
This evening we finished work around 8 pm and just before we were setting the table for dinner I told my husband if he would mind waiting 5 minutes. I really wanted to capture the sunflowers. The sun was still up and the light was just perfect.
It might have taken longer than 5 minutes but he didn’t mind.
I had hoped and got rewarded with half of the field still being lit up in the last rays of sunshine of the day.
The sunflowers were facing towards the midday sun and away from the sunset. But I just kept on walking further down the field to get as many of them as possible into frame.
“A sunflower field is like a sky with a thousand suns.” — Corina Abdulahum Negura
I used to only capture flowers with my zoom lens. I’d zoom in to get all the details. But that would blur out most of the background.
When I first purchased my wide-angle lens I only had in mind to do night photography shots with it. But over time I found out I could do much more with it.
You have to be careful not to overload an image by capturing a whole scene with the wide-angle view but with the right constellation of objects, I managed to get some decent photographs.
And on my short walk to the sunflower field, I didn’t even take my other lens with me. Wide-angle shots it will be. I had already certain images in my mind and played around with the perspectives.
“We’re all golden sunflowers inside.” — Allen Ginsberg
And before I forget about the surroundings I lift my head and soak in the last rays of sunshine. Talking of which. Let’s try to capture the setting sun and the sunflowers in one picture.
It’s not so easy to shoot directly into the sun and still have objects in the foreground lit up but after a few attempts, I managed to get some results I was happy with.
Advice from a sunflower:
Be bright, sunny, and positive.
Spread seeds of happiness.
Rise, shine and hold your head high.
More about floral beauty:
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