Progress toward spring seems to have slowed down and frost has reappeared in the morning, though we have been spared the heavy snows that have fallen in other parts of the country.
As a reminder of the colorful growth that is to come, I decided to share a few images of one of my favorite orchids—a Lady’s Slipper orchid—from the orchid exhibition that I visited at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond, VA earlier this month. I was really intrigued by the “pouch” portion of the flower and tried to highlight it in close-up photos, which I took with my camera on a tripod and settings of ISO 100, f16, and .6 seconds.
As I think about spring, I feel like a little kid on a trip, who keeps asking his parents, “Are we there yet?” Despite what the calendar may indicate, we are not there yet, and the answer to the question “When?” is likely to be the indefinite “Soon” that parents are wont to use in a response to the child.
Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Beautiful shots, it looks almost alien..:-))
When i read the title to your post I thought you were going to say that you had lady’s slippers blooming there already! Nice macros!
So dramatic, delicate and beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful! Nice depth of field in our photos.
Love your photos. I have always loved the Lady Slipper so I really enjoyed the post.
Thanks. It would be really cool to find one in the wild, but that would be a tall order.