Ridge Road Ramble
High Point State Park Interpretive Specialist Kate Foord recently led a walk along Ridge Road in High Point State Park, highlighting birds and spring flowers. Although, I brought my camera, I was really there more for the educational benefit than the photography. Wildlife photography, usually, requires time and patience to get the photos you want, and flower photography has never really been my thing. At least, that’s what I tell people. “I don’t really take a lot of photos of flowers,” I’m fond of saying.
But I’m a liar. Wading through the thousands of photos I’ve taken over the years, it’s become abundantly clear that I, indeed, take lots of photos of flowers. I think my confusion comes from the fact that I don’t usually put a whole lot of effort into it. So many people do flower photography– beautifully so–if I can’t find a unique way of presenting it, it doesn’t excite me. However, as I’m taking a deep dive into my editing, I’m noticing just how amazing flowers are closeup, and I shall endeavor to study them further.
Anyway, after Kate was done and everyone went their separate ways, I retraced our steps and went back to the flowers that interested me most. What I wasn’t prepared for was how engrossed I would become in dandelions. It was more like stupidly obsessed. As I lay on the side of the road trying to get the perfect dandelion photo, a gentleman rolled up in his car and asked what I had found. “Some flowers,” I responded. And he said, “Oh, dandelions,” with what I thought was a hint of disdain.
So I asked, “Have you ever really looked at a dandelion.”
“They’re beautiful,” he admitted.
“They’re absolutely gorgeous,” I gushed.
So I spent an inordinate amount of time photographing dandelions before moving on. In case you’re wondering, Kate didn’t spend any time talking about dandelions. Go figure.
Kate did point out the interrupted fern, which I had never heard of before. They have spore-bearing leaflets in the middle of the leaf that wither and fall off, leaving a gap. I know, it’s not a flower, but who cares? It’s cool. Besides, it’s my blog, and I’ll change directions whenever I darned well feel like it. As a matter of fact, I’m tired of talking about stuff, so I’m just going to leave you with a little photo gallery of some of the things I photographed. If you want to know more, look it up yourself. Why do I have to do everything?
