photos of flowers

Cee's fun foto challenge: all one color - bright pink flowers

Bring some color to your Friday with this selection of bright flowers

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I don’t know what the weather looks like where you are today. It’s raining in San Diego, which is a very welcome sight since it will take many more rains to recover from our six months of super dry weather.

I love the stormy weather that comes with the Fall season. The wind giving a little push to the leaves still hanging on to the trees, the sun rays trying so hard to pierce through the clouds, the cloud cover ranging from bright white to dark grey.

But the rain also makes the day look pretty grim, so I’m giving myself, and you too, a little color to look at today. Here are a few photos of colorful flowers I took over the summer. I have absolutely no idea what these flowers are so if you do, please share.

Remember you can always click on the image to see a larger view.

Let’s start with the color yellow. If you look at the larger size, you’ll see some cool water drops all over the plant.

And now, on to the color blue. I love the softness of this blue hue and the lines and tiny dots on each petal, as if someone had painted them on.

Let’s finish with this bright pink cluster of flowers.

Did you see how cool looking these flowers are? Take a closer look at the translucent stigma and the fuzzy center, very neat.

November 9, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Flower Photos, PhotographyTags: blooms, cluster of flowers, flower blooms, flower cluster, flower stigma, photography, photos, photos of blooms, photos of blue flowers, photos of flowers, photos of pink flowers, photos of yellow flowers, soft blue flowers, yellow tropical flower 2 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Lines on a bottle brush tree flower

Bees love bottle brush tree flowers

I love bottle brush tree flowers. They feature a beautiful red hue and it’s easy to figure out how they got their name. I recently found out bottle brush trees are a native plant of Australia. This may explain why we have so many of them in San Diego, as the weather is similar here as in many parts of Australia.

I chose bottle brush tree flowers for the month of April in my 2013 photo calendar and I had a few pictures to choose from. My final pick was actually not my first choice. The photo below was. I love the angle of the flower, the deep green leaves on the left and the other red brushes in the background. And then, surprise surprise, there are two bees on this bottle brush tree flower: one at the bottom of it and one flying right in front of it. The only thing that stopped me from choosing this photo as my final selection was that the flying bee was out of focus. But hey, it wasn’t even supposed to be on the picture in the first place!

What do you think? Should I consider it for my 2014 photo calendar? Or does the blurry bee bother you? Make sure you click on the image for a larger view, especially if you want to see the bees better.

November 5, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Bloom Photos, California Photos, Flower Photos, Photography, Photos of San DiegoTags: bee photos, bees, bottle brush tree flowers, bottle brush tree photo, California pictures, flying bee, photo of bees, photography, photos, photos of blooms, photos of bottle brush tree, photos of bottle brush tree flowers, photos of flowers, San Diego 11 Comments

This looks a lot like mimosa, doesn’t it?

I have no idea what this plant is, but its yellow puffy blooms sure look like mimosa. Yet, the leaves don’t look like the leaves of a mimosa bush. So if you know what it is, let me know.

These ma-planted bushes bloom every year around January/February in my area. I love how they bring bright colors to the winter months. They bloom around the same time some California wildflowers start popping up, usually on the side of the San Diego freeways. These “mimosa” flowers are a challenge to photograph and I think I’ll have to spend more time next year to get the photos I really want. I probably have to get a lot closer to show the puffiness of the yellow flowers, as well as use a bright blue sky to contrast the yellow blooms. Something I’m looking forward to do in a few months!

What do you think of these and how would you like to see them photographed?

Small puffy yellow flowers - mimosa blooms on the bush — Small puffy yellow flowers – mimosa blooms on the bush

October 17, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Bloom Photos, California Photos, Flower Photos, Photos of San Diego, Plant PhotosTags: california wildflowers, mimosa, mimosa blooms, mimosa bush, mimosa flower blooms, mimosa flowers, photography, photos, photos of blooms, photos of flowers, San Diego photos, yellow puffy flowers 4 Comments

My 2013 calendar pick for August: the water lilies of San Diego’s Balboa Park

View all of the pictures I selected for my 2013 photo calendar.

My 2013 12-month photo calendar is now available for sale on my Zazzle online store. Thank you for your support!

I’m warning you right now. The photo I picked for the month of August in my 2013 photo calendar has to be one of my very favorite and I’ll tell you the reason why below. I took it one morning this past August while strolling along at Balboa Park in San Diego. A popular area of the park features a couple of small ponds, which are sparsely covered with white and pink water lilies and populated with a few species of fish, including koi.

My kids were in camp at the Natural History Museum that week and I had a few hours to kill before picking them up that day, so I grabbed my camera bag and walked around the park. There was a nasty heatwave that week, which included a lot of humidity, and my stroll quickly became tedious. There’s nothing worse than sitting still in full blasting heat and sun trying to take a hundred photos of the same thing. I started shooting pictures from different angles, different water lilies (or lily pads if you prefer). Every time I looked at the preview on my camera’s back screen, I wasn’t very excited about what I saw. It seemed the light was too bright and something just wasn’t right. So after a few minutes of frustration, I packed my bags and left, looking for something else to photograph, this time in the shade.

I forgot about these photos for a few weeks, until I pulled the SD card out of my camera to look at some photos I’d taken afterwards. As I was browsing through the files, I noticed the water lilies, so I opened the images. And in the middle of a few good shots, I found this photo of lily pads below. I call it my miracle photo. Why? Because the photo you’re looking at had no work done on it. I didn’t have to recenter it and adjust any of the settings. It literally came out that way. By the way, this never happens (OK, only in the movies!).

So there you have it, the beautiful pink water lilies of San Diego’s Balboa Park is my August 2013 photo pick. Don’t forget you can click on the photo to see a larger view. Enjoy!

My 2013 photo calendar pick for August: the water lilies of San Diego's Balboa Park — My 2013 photo calendar pick for August: the water lilies of San Diego’s Balboa Park

October 4, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Bloom Photos, California Photos, Flower Photos, Photos of San DiegoTags: 2013 calendar, 2013 photo calendar, blooms, California pictures, lily pad photos, photography, photos, photos of blooms, photos of flowers, photos of lily pads, photos of San Diego Balboa Park, photos of water lilies, photos of water lily, San Diego Balboa Park, water lilies photos, water lily photos 10 Comments

My 2013 calendar pick for July: a protea pin cushion flower

View all of the pictures I selected for my 2013 photo calendar.

My 2013 12-month photo calendar is now available for sale on my Zazzle online store. Thank you for your support!

San Diego County spreads over 4500 square miles from the ocean to the desert, while going through several mountains, and is home to a tremendous amount of plant and animal species. Some species are native and others have been brought over the past few centuries because they fare well in the local weather.

I’m not very educated when it comes to flower names in the area, unless they come with a name tag. The flower below didn’t but it still gave me the opportunity to take this beautiful picture. I love how the orange petals curl in on this very large flower. I did take this photo in July and I thought it’d make a very colorful choice for my 2013 photo calendar. Thanks to a friend of mine commenting on Facebook, I found out this is called a protea pin cushion flower, and the plant is native to South Africa. Beautiful.