Turn your face to the sun and the shadows follow behind you
~Maori proverb
More social distancing with flowers! This time in Woodland at three of many sunflower fields growing in Yolo County this time of year. I came to see some sunflowers but got sidetracked by a little bird watching place nearby that my co-worker Yvonne had told me about. More on that in another post. :)
When I finally tore myself away from the Egrets and Herons and made my way to my planned location just a bit up I-5, it was getting dark and the sun had pretty much set. But the sky was a beautiful orangey-pink, the mountains were blue, and the fields were bright with green and yellow.
It's a bit late in the season and it's been HOT so a lot of the flowers were going to seed and starting to brown and droop. But they were still a gorgeous sight to behold.
I learned a little something from Reddit recently regarding the two different sunflowers seen in the photo below.
The smaller, multi-clustered flowers (that we sometimes notice on the side of random roads here in California) are the male pollinators. The tall, strong seed-bearing sunflowers are, of course, the females. Girl power baby!
You know me and know I have to do a couple "stylized" photos every time. :-) To me, there is beauty in every stage of life. Not always the stereotypical "beauty", but beauty none the less.
This picture is similar to the first one, I know. But I just loved the way some sunflowers have their heads held high to catch the last rays of the setting sun. And this time I found three more closer to me!
More "style"!
This is the backside of the sunset. Pro tip: After the sun has set (or risen), look to the opposite horizon to catch the last bit of the beautiful show of light and color!
Here is another example of the male and female flowers. This farmer's field had a thick row of male flowers planted between every 10 or so rows of females.
This is the opposite side of the road. Strong and beautiful females tower over there male pollinators with the orange Western sky and beautiful trees in the background.
And this is probably my favorite shot of the day so I saved it for last. So gorgeous.
Such a peaceful and perfect way to end a Sunday night after a pretty stressful/anxiety-filled week/weekend.
Till next time.
Sony A350
Note: all photos taken by Jeanette H. (author/photographer) at sunset/blue hour with handheld DSLR at 400 ISO (Sorry for any grainyness). I've learned that the used 300mm zoom lens I bought has a lot of chromatic aberration which sucks to a certain extent (especially with birds and wildlife) but isn't a deal breaker for non-pro photos.
