Bent out of shape
Don’t get bent out of shape by this portrait of a Mexican hat flower head, Ratibida columnifera, that I made a year ago today at Wild Basin.
© 2018 Steven Schwartzman
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Portraits of Wildflowers 
A unique one!
Indira
June 19, 2018 at 7:10 AM
As a photographer, I’m happy when I come across an unusual specimen like this one.
Steve Schwartzman
June 19, 2018 at 7:16 AM
It looks tired 😀
gwenniesgardenworld
June 19, 2018 at 8:12 AM
Not till you said it could I see it that way. I saw only distortion, not fatigue.
Steve Schwartzman
June 19, 2018 at 8:35 AM
That is cos I know what fatigue looks like 😀
gwenniesgardenworld
June 19, 2018 at 9:00 AM
And feels like, too.
Steve Schwartzman
June 19, 2018 at 9:21 AM
yep
gwenniesgardenworld
June 19, 2018 at 10:16 AM
Bent out of shape is what I would get if I took this picture from that perspective! 😀
Pit
June 19, 2018 at 8:30 AM
Believe me, I do sometimes end up feeling bent out of shape from the contortions I put myself through to get in a good position for a photograph.
Steve Schwartzman
June 19, 2018 at 8:37 AM
🙂
Pit
June 19, 2018 at 8:38 AM
Deformed yet still beautiful!
tanjabrittonwriter
June 19, 2018 at 7:19 PM
That’s a good way to put it.
Steve Schwartzman
June 19, 2018 at 9:41 PM
Beautiful light and detail. Such a curious shape!
tomwhelan
June 19, 2018 at 9:05 PM
I’ve found this species more susceptible to irregularities than many others. For example:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2017/03/29/a-double-headed-mexican-hat-2/
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/a-heady-sort-of-weirdness/
Steve Schwartzman
June 19, 2018 at 10:26 PM
Irregular indeed! I wonder what the cause is – a point mutation, an insect that nibbles on the bud, a fungus…
tomwhelan
June 22, 2018 at 8:33 PM
My understanding is that those anomalies are caused by a mutation or a fungus but I don’t know if that’s true. Whatever the cause, the strange formations make for good pictures.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2018 at 8:31 AM
They certainly are good images – fine captures, all of them.
tomwhelan
June 23, 2018 at 9:48 AM
I know you’d be happy to portray strange specimens like those if you came across them.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2018 at 10:52 AM
Great Detail and colorful! Nice smooth background!
Reed Andariese
June 19, 2018 at 9:27 PM
A wide aperture of f/4 partially accounts for that smooth background.
Steve Schwartzman
June 19, 2018 at 10:27 PM
What a lovely photo. The mexican hat looks tired and weary to me… but oh so beautiful!
Littlesundog
June 20, 2018 at 1:18 PM
Shakespeare wrote: “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety.” Well, flowers do wither, but the quotation accords with the spirit of what you’ve said.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2018 at 1:50 PM
It looks as though it’s taking a bow, with its skirts trailing behind like a ballerina’s, or an opera singer’s.
shoreacres
June 20, 2018 at 9:31 PM
Your last words made me think immediately of “La donna è mobile” (with mobile taken literally rather than as ‘fickle’).
Steve Schwartzman
June 21, 2018 at 7:08 AM
That’s not a Mexican hat flower. It was designed by Halston!
tonytomeo
June 20, 2018 at 11:55 PM
Turns out there’s a Halston Heritage store in Mexico City:
https://www.shopping-mexico.com/stores/halston-heritage
Steve Schwartzman
June 21, 2018 at 7:29 AM
I would not have guessed that many remember Halston. I wore Halston Z-14 in the 1980s, and it was nice then, but it is not my style now.
tonytomeo
June 22, 2018 at 11:14 PM
I’m familiar with the name but not the style. I’ve never been one for fashion.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2018 at 8:32 AM
I just happened to write two articles about Halston and Halston Junior, two gophers who resembled the Halston pill box cap that my mother wore when I was a tot.
tonytomeo
June 24, 2018 at 3:13 AM
Those are imaginative names for gophers.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2018 at 7:59 AM