Just a short story to tell. On Easter Sunday, while mountain biking at the nearby Land Between the Lakes, I spied a neat little community of one of my favorite spring wildflowers, the Bloodroot. These flowers are among the earliest to appear, often when everything else is still under winters slumber.

All I had with me this day was the Blackberry. But I decided I needed to return with the E-3 soon and try and capture these white beauties. Well, as life so often does, it hampered my ability to make a timely return to this spot, until today. Unfortunately, upon my return, all the Bloodroot blossoms were no more. Even the Tiger Lilies I noted nearby were gone. So fleeting is the spring!

I gathered a few token RAW images of some violets, and even some Bloodroot leaves--which are very peculiar--but was just about resigned to heading home with little to show for the gas money. I decided to walk up the North-South Trail for awhile to see what there was to see. Coming across a small steam bed, I observed a thick carpet of deep green knife-blade leaves: Dwarf Crested Iris. Another of my favorite spring flowers. But none were to be found. I was too early for these!

Spying a few soon-to-be buds, I walked around the area to see if maybe there were a few that were ahead of the pack. Nothing. There was one bud that was a head taller than the rest, big and plump. I thought maybe in a few days this would be the first to bloom. Locating a rather nice composition involving a violet nearby, I got my E-3 and 50/2 out and started to set up a composition.

About ten minutes into my setup, I glanced over my left shoulder towards that Iris bud I'd seen earlier. The sun was just starting to spill into the valley, and I noticed that one petal of the bud was splayed out. Hmmm. Didn't recall seeing that earlier. Went about my business and, taking a third look after another 15 minutes, the petal was out further still! And the rest of the bloom was now starting to spread open. I was witnessing the blooming of an Iris!

Over the next 45 minutes, I watched this beautiful flower as it was born into the world. I spent this time readying my rig, experimenting with composition, and setting up umbrellas to shield from sun and wind.

For an hour I imaged this new wildflower. It kept changing as if giving me a big ole morning stretch yawn!