Paying with blood…

For a couple of glorious weeks starting in mid-June, my favorite wildflower bursts into life and can be seen all over Maine. Considered by some to be a nuisance, I just love the color that lupine brings to the countryside, and I try to photograph it every chance I get. This tall spindly flower thrives on hillsides where it can get lots of sun, and growing in bunches, it also seems to like its own company. As I make my commute to work, it can be found scattered in large swathes all along I-95, and at this time of year I almost don’t mind the drive.

There are a couple of fields along the Beech Hill Road in Acadia National Park that fill to the brim with lupine each year, though this isn’t the only thing coming to life right around this time. Depending on how wet the spring is, the Maine state bird – the Blackfly – is also enjoying it’s re-birth, and on this particular occasion it seemed very happy to see both Jack and me. I used my 70-200mm lens and a large aperture (f5.6 or f6.3) to create a shallow depth of field and isolate some of the beautiful flowers in what was a very full and almost chaotic scene. The light breeze which made it quite challenging to get a sharp photograph of the lupine did little to save me from the hungry blackflies – I must have surrendered half a pint of blood as the little buggers feasted on me.