Coveted

Taken at Cleveland Botanical Garden - Cleveland OH - For Orchid Mania 2012, This Side of Paradise

Another from my second visit to the Garden, I was at first leery that it was such a beautiful, sunny day because direct sunlight is often not a photographer's friend. However, I can always be proven wrong when I come across shots like this. As a photographer that loves high contrast and deep tones, this shot spoke to me deeply. I love the light that spills onto the orchid and the stone wall behind it and the shadows that were created by that. I underexposed this shot (as I tend to do with most of my photos) by two stops to help bring out the deep tones as well as offset the camera's desire to give me a balanced shot in terms of light. Looking at this photo, it was one of the ones that I was very excited about processing and was on my mind while I was shooting the rest of the day.

Did you know that vanilla comes from the orchid? The beans are produced by the Vanilla Planifolia in the form of pods that grown on the plant. The vanilla flavoring actually comes from the thousands of tiny seeds that grow in those pods. Hm. I got my tax return back, maybe I'll splurge and get myself some vanilla beans and make something nummy for Taryn Time this weekend!