A silverpuff puffball

If you’re wondering why the reluctant-to-open flower head you saw last time is called silverpuff, it’s because when Chaptalia texana goes to seed it turns into the kind of puffball you see here. This photograph is from October 31, 2014, along the River Place Nature Trail.

The light in the shade of the trees—which is where this little wildflower tends to grow—was low enough to force a wide aperture in the camera lens, which meant that not much of the picture would be in focus. I chose to keep parts near the center sharp, so everything around them in this abstract view is soft and impressiony.

© 2015 Steven Schwartzman