Stories Behind the Photos – Page 19 – Different Isn't Wrong, It's Just Different

All week I have contemplated this week’s Friday Floral post. Which image(s) to share, possibly a story, how I made the image(s) or even a gallery.

Every Friday, WordPress has a Weekly Photo Challenge for all bloggers and this week’s theme is Threshold. Suggestions were given and when I read “something a bit more metaphorical like a flower about to bloom” it reminded me of some images I made last spring.

All three images are of Trichocereus Hybrid commonly known as Flying Saucer. This type of cactus is a night-blooming species with the blooms being about 6 inches in diameter. The blooms open at night and once the sun hits them the next day it doesn’t take long for the blooms to wilt. I was fortunate to be at the Desert Botanical Garden one evening just as two blooms were beginning to open.

This first image was taken about a half hour before sunset in a shaded area of the garden. The blooms are just starting to open.

pink cactus flowers

I waited patiently and watched the blooms open, flashlight in hand that I keep in my camera bag, to illuminate the blooms as they opened. It is quite a sight to see, and would be a great time-lapse photography project!

pink cactus flowers

Unfortunately, I was unable to go back early the next morning to make images of the blooms fully opened. However, a week later there was another bloom that opened that I was able to capture very early in the morning.

The cacti are already blooming and it won’t be long before the night-blooming species will be blooming as well. As with the wildflowers, the cacti are blooming earlier than usual this year which means the scorching summer will be here soon.

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These photos have nothing to do with nature or outdoor photography, but I couldn’t resist sharing. Besides, for my regular followers, something different!

About six years ago while visiting my family in Iowa, for my brother’s 50th birthday party which was in January no less, opportunity knocked and I answered. The opportunity was to go inside my childhood dentist’s office which had been sitting empty since the early 1980’s. A bit more history is my mom worked for this particular dentist back in the 1950’s in the front office. That connection is how I was given access to photograph the office. My sister, one of my cousin’s and his wife also went. It was my cousin’s wife who called the owner and mentioned I was in town and happened to be a photographer. Bingo! Access granted!

Little did we know it would be like walking back in time. So many things still in place just as it had been left so many years before. Oh the memories that came to all of us! Stories that today we can now laugh about, but were frightening back in the day when we were children and patients.

I have several photos, but chose to share just a few.