Like the torch the Statue of Liberty holds aloft
Soft goldenaster, Chrysopsis pilosa, in Bastrop State Park on June 6th.
© 2019 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers
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Portraits of Wildflowers 
Reach for the sky!
The ad this time involved an animated tape worm.
Steve Gingold
June 20, 2019 at 5:13 AM
Ah, reciprocity: I think the same ad made like a tapeworm and came attached to your last e-mailed post.
As for the ray flowers, I do get a sense of reaching.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 5:37 AM
The simile makes me smile.. nice!
Ms. Liz
June 20, 2019 at 5:14 AM
And in the game of charades, people smile to indicate that the phrase to be guessed is a simile. Your smile came without even having to play the game.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 5:41 AM
That’s fascinating! I’ve only read about people playing the game of charades so I didn’t know that!
Ms. Liz
June 20, 2019 at 3:54 PM
I remember it from a television quiz show that ran when I was growing up.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 4:00 PM
A beacon of hope.
Gallivanta
June 20, 2019 at 5:15 AM
So it has been for many, even as far from New York as Tiananmen Square 30 years ago this month:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddess_of_Democracy
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 7:32 AM
Beautiful!
DovesClosetInc
June 20, 2019 at 6:29 AM
That’s how I see it, too.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 6:42 AM
I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was catching my eye, until I remembered your mention of the Bastrop soils in your last post. The dark background isn’t black, but very deep brown, with just a hint of that soil showing. The yellow of the bud appears to my eye to have picked it up, as well. The yellow isn’t muddied, at all, but it seems to be reflecting the environment in which it’s growing.
shoreacres
June 20, 2019 at 6:57 AM
I follow you, and yet my mind ran on a track through art rather than botany or geography, suggesting not the earth in Bastrop that admittedly fostered the soft goldenasters, but Rembrandt. I could’ve processed the image to show a brighter background but I preferred (and still do) the darker version.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 7:32 AM
A good choice, I’d say.
shoreacres
June 20, 2019 at 7:40 AM
It’s good to hear you second Rembrandt. The motion passes unanimously.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 8:40 AM
A non-distractive background is perfect for the goldenaster ready to open its petals. Great title too, Steve!
Peter Klopp
June 20, 2019 at 7:40 AM
Distractive backgrounds are a photographer’s enemy. The more we can avoid them, the better our portraits will be. I don’t know whether having grown up in New York influenced my allusion to the Statue of Liberty or if that’s just the way my mind went.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 7:49 AM
Put no restraint on your creative mind, Steve.
Peter Klopp
June 21, 2019 at 8:05 AM
A laudable goal, not always easy to achieve.
Steve Schwartzman
June 21, 2019 at 8:10 AM
I love your fanciful interpretation of this flower. 🙂
melissabluefineart
June 20, 2019 at 7:46 AM
Oh, I’m just full of fancy—or so I fancy.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 7:55 AM
Well fancy that.
melissabluefineart
June 20, 2019 at 5:57 PM
By the way, did you know that fancy is a syncopated form of fantasy? Fancy that.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 6:32 PM
I did not know that. It makes sense, now that you mention it.
melissabluefineart
June 21, 2019 at 8:52 AM
When a language ends up with two forms of a word, they’re known as doublets. Another example is secure, borrowed from Latin, and sure, which English took from what the Latin word had evolved to in Old French.
Steve Schwartzman
June 21, 2019 at 9:40 AM
I find that sort of thing fascinating. My son has been studying language recently. He’d like to get a degree in it, I think, but it isn’t going to be possible.
melissabluefineart
June 22, 2019 at 7:53 AM
I’ve been fascinate by language since I was a teenager. I’m sorry your son won’t be able to pursue a degree in it now. But who knows? It might eventually happen.
Steve Schwartzman
June 22, 2019 at 8:12 AM
Yes, you never know. He has all sorts of interesting things he is considering, including the Peace Corps. It will be fun to see what he ends up doing.
melissabluefineart
June 24, 2019 at 7:58 AM
You may remember that the Peace Corps is the first thing I did after college. It’d be one way for your son to get involved with a foreign language.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2019 at 10:17 AM
Yes indeed, as well as being a very rewarding thing to do with one’s life.
melissabluefineart
June 24, 2019 at 11:29 AM
Such a beauty–flower and photo!. Would have been a perfect post for Independence Day. 🙂
Tina
June 20, 2019 at 8:19 AM
In some past years I’ve posted a picture with red, white, and blue in it. Now you’ve given me another slant to think about in Fourths of July to come.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 8:39 AM
What you have done! Yes to the simile. Yes to Rembrandt. Yes to simple beauty.
Michael Scandling
June 20, 2019 at 9:59 AM
Now that’s the kind of yes-man I approve of.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 11:39 AM
Life’s inconsistencies: I can be a yes-man and a scofflaw at the same time.
Michael Scandling
June 20, 2019 at 11:46 AM
Just so long as you aren’t a scoffphoto (unless it’s warranted).
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 11:54 AM
A single stem and blossom – a simple composition, yet so masterful! The colours and details are so striking, i’m in awe.
Nature on the Edge
June 20, 2019 at 4:40 PM
Thanks for your kind words, Liz. It’s good to hear that this portrait pleases you as much as it pleases me. Simplicity can convey a strong impression.
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2019 at 6:29 PM
I get a sense of anticipation with this closed flower. It feels like it could spring open any moment!
denisebushphoto
June 22, 2019 at 10:42 AM
I didn’t stay around watching, but I think you’re right that the flower head opened the rest of the way in short order. Maybe botanists have studied the average time it takes the buds of various species to open.
Steve Schwartzman
June 22, 2019 at 12:21 PM