Photo of the Week – February 14, 2013

It’s a tough time of year to be a wildflower photographer.  The first spring flowers are still months away, and fall flowers are a distant memory.  What’s a guy to do?  Gotta make the best of things, I guess.

Here’s a shot from a few weeks ago when we still had snow on the ground.

A frosty rosinweed seedhead in winter prairie.

A frosty rosinweed seed head in winter prairie.  Aurora, Nebraska.

Many wildflowers lose the majority of their flower parts as winter sets in, making them relatively uninteresting to photograph.  Rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium) is an exception; while this one has lost its seeds, it has retained much of its characteristic shape, making it easy to identify and fun to photograph.

The frost doesn’t hurt either.

Photo of the Week – January 17, 2013

Ok, I know milkweed seeds have been done to death by photographers.  I, personally, have somewhere around a zillion milkweed seed photos.  But milkweed seeds in the winter?  With hoar frost?  And a snowy background?  That’s just magic.  How can I not photograph that?

Frosty milkweed seeds and pods.  The Leadership Center Prairie.  Aurora, Nebraska.

Frosty milkweed seeds and pods. The Leadership Center Prairie. Aurora, Nebraska.

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These photos are all from the same morning as those in last week’s photo of the week post.  I’ve got even more from that morning saved up for future weeks…  It was that kind of morning.