Early coralroot

[Steve Foss]

Well, early coralroot are as common as mosquitoes up here, but these are the first I've had a chance to photograph since I began my quest last summer to capture every wild orchid species in Minnesota (42 of them). I believe this puts me at 14 or 15 of the 42, with hopefully quite a few more to come this summer. I've already added the rare and ephemeral fairy slipper, and there are some other fairly common orchids I should be able to bag this year yet. With the fairy slipper, ram's head ladyslipper and western prairie fringed-orchid, I've gotten three of the rare ones out of the way.

While the beautiful fairy slippers and ladyslippers are the most commonly recognized orchids, there are many others whose beauty is more subtle, partly because, with many of them, the plants and blooms are tiny.

With this coralroot, the bloom and sepals all together are smaller than my pinkie fingernail.

All with the Canon 30D.

In the cedar swamp

Canon 10-22 @ 22mm, iso400, 1/30 @ f4.5, handheld, diffuser disc to cut harsh sun

The medium view

Canon 100 f2.8 macro, 1/30 @ f2.8, handheld, diffuser disc

So delicate (stem removed for artsy floating effect)

Canon 100 f2.8 macro, set of three Kenko extension tubes, iso400, 2.5 sec @ f11, - 2/3 exposure compensation off evaluative metering, tripod, remote shutter release, mirror-lockup, diffuser disc

[eyeguy 54]

Love the first one.

[Birdsong]

My favorite is the second. Who knew something so tiny could be that beautiful. But then you guys have led me to discover that even Creeping Jenny has a beautiful blossom if you look at it through the lens of a camera. Don't get too caught up in the numbers game, young man. It is an admirable and charming goal, but getting three of the rare ones "out of the way" does not sound like the 'sense of place' kind of guy who inspires us. Or did the three smileys indicate a tongue in cheek kind of comment?

[Steve Foss]

Or did the three smileys indicate a tongue in cheek kind of comment?

You got it, Sarah! It's just a fine thing to be in love with life and alive on such a gorgeous planet. Who cares about quantity when quality is staring you in the face?

[Debbie K]

Steve - I never knew anything this lovely existed. Sounds like you are well on your way of capturing orchids.