aging gracefully

My first photography post of 2011.  I've been "taking a lot of pictures" lately (construction on our house in the mountains, a family member's collections I'm trying to sell, stuff like that) so my camera has been in my hand fairly often, but certainly I haven't produced anything that I felt like adding to my blog.  But today I thought I'd post one just to enjoy the process again.  As any of you know who have followed my 365 blog, I enjoy photographing flowers.  I particularly love tulips and even more specifically, I love the stages they go through from their tight little buds to the curling petals drifting falling to the floor.  I bought some pale pink tulips last week and watched them go through their metamorphosis.  Yesterday when we got home from being away for the long weekend, they were in their final stage.  I knew I couldn't move the vase of flowers since it was very fragile and the petals would fall away quickly, so I just left them where they were (fortunately near a window so I could take advantage of the natural light) and I put a white board behind them to simplify the background.  I like this image because it's so light and airy.  I usually gravitate to dark and heavily contrasted photographs, but I thought the delicate treatment, with the brightness enhanced and the colors slightly desaturated, fit the subject.

I still promise that one day soon I'm going to write about what I learned from last years 365 journey, but I just haven't taken the time to put it all together.  Meanwhile, think good thoughts of spring with this little photo.