“Grace is neither gentleness nor fragility. Grace is treating yourself, others, and even inanimate objects with respect.”
– Kamand Kojouri

This is the image I was after when I made the image in my previous post. This is my first year planting rhododendrons and I’m not sure why I did not do it earlier. They are absolutely stunning to look at, and loaded with large beautiful blossoms, which seem to remain for a long time.

The blossoms are interesting close up, as in this image, where all the structures can be seen clearly. Coupled with watching a bee seeking nectar and literally fighting past the stiff stamens. That seems, as is often the case, to cause the bee to spend a longer period of time exposed to the flower’s pollen. If you look back at my prior image, you can see the bee is completely coated in pollen from these flowers.

Because the flowers grow in large clusters, I removed a single blossom to photograph in my studio, as efforts at using my mobile setup were thwarted by fairly windy conditions. Please spend a few moments with this blossom, there some really interesting structures to be enjoyed here.

Nikon D800
Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 (272ENII)@90mm
2.5sec, f/36.0 ISO 100

High Resolution image on 500px

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