A sure sign of spring's arrival on the northern prairie - on the same level as the meadowlark's song - is the Prairie Crocus bloom. Pale blue or mauve, occasionally white, these anemones are the first wildflowers to push up through the dried grasses of last summer.
I made this shot three years ago with a wide angle lens. Even though I've sawed off a good length of the centre pole of my tripod - because I shoot low more often than high - I still couldn't get low enough for the shot I wanted, so I hand held this one, bracing myself against the ground, holding my breath before squeezing off the shot. I'm lucky, in that I have very steady hands. No sign of a tremble.
The wind is another matter. Calm days are rare. There can be calm moments, but they might not come when you want them to. I know an FCP (Famous Canadian Photographer) who lives in Ontario and tells me the prairie drives him nuts, even though he loves the way it looks. He does a lot of very fine macro work, so I do understand. With its sudden shifts in weather, including extremes of hot and cold (it isn't unusual to run both the heat and A/C on the same day), there are big challenges to photographing prairie ecosystems. You have to be flexible, and accept whatever happens next. On that note, I'm heading out with my gear... to see what happens next.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2014 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
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