Made a trip to Shenandoah National Park to catch the mountain laurel in bloom. I was away the past four summers (the extent of my photography career) and missed them. It was a sunshiny day and thus many photo options were eliminated by the overly contrasty conditions but this one worked. It reminds me of this other favorite from this spring - http://www.pbase.com/ed_k/image/95644737 - since they both feature an RGB (red/green/blue) color scheme which I find eye catching. I spent lots of time standing around in several candidate locations waiting for the occasional cloud to come by and kill the shadows. You can see the good cloud formations on the horizon off to the north. Nature photography is a game of patience.
That's the Shenandoah Valley off in the distance to the left and Pollock Knob (3580 feet) in the mid-ground. I'm standing a short distance off the Appalachian Trail which meanders the length (about 100 miles of its 2300 miles) of Shenandoah National Park. And, of course, these are the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Wide angle lens, circular polarizer, tripod, & right angle viewfinder so that I could compose these low level shots without having to put myself on the ground. Probably shot all 360 degrees of the compass using this lone ancient mountain laurel as part of the scene.