Wildflowers for the Parsimonious

Did you know that you can find camas and other interesting wildflowers within Seattle? I didn't! Carkeek and Magnuson Parks, I have discovered, both have camas meadows! The flowers have to share space with some invasives, but that's the price one pays for staying in the city. The camas at Magnuson aren't as impressive as those at Carkeek.

(But what do we really want when we look for a "natural" area? One would be hard-pressed to find a place both accessible and free from human influence. I am not just talking about things like development, logging, etc. Invasive species, forestry practices, and other effects abound. Even hunting can affect the the look of a natural area - the hunting of herbivores can advantage the plants they normally browse; the hunting of their predators can increase this browsing. I would argue that one would be hard-pressed to find a place, especially in Washington State, free of human influence. Even the first Euro-American explorers and settlers arrived to find a landscape shaped by native fire practices and other such things).

Anyway, the pictures! My favorites were two of backlit camas flowers. By using a very wide aperture I was able to eliminate most of the background clutter, and ended up with a nice yellowish-green. My camera didn't quite capture the deep purple of the flowers, though. I shall have to experiment with white-balance settings, either in camera or in Lightroom.

These next three I also liked, although they are not as spectacular:

I also liked this one of a group of dandelions. I also shot this clump with my wide angle lens, but didn't like the results - there was a fait amount of distortion and I had a hard time getting it focused properly.

Lastly, a couple other flower types that I found in Magnuson. The first I haven't identified yet and the second is a vetch of some sort, probably common vetch, although I'm not 100% sure.