Petals of Perfection

For the past couple of days I've been driving past a little oasis of color on the outskirts of Middleburg town. I think somebody must have scattered some wildflower seeds since I've not spotted them in recent years, and this splash of color in a usually green meridian between two roads cannot be easily missed. The flowers shine like vibrant jewels, ruby and garnet hues, glowing moonstone and amethyst shades, With thunderstorms expected daily, I wanted to capture them in case they were flattened by torrential rain. I watched the lighting as I drove to and from work and chose the afternoon setting sun as my time to stop and get to work with my camera. The flowers were illuminated by the golden rays, like spotlights on a stage following the actors, with dark shadows cast by trees in the background. Even as I plodded carefully through the tall grasses, my shutter clicks barely audible with the traffic noise passing by me on either side, I was aware of the shadows slowly but surely stretching across to blanket the blooms as the sun dropped lower in the sky.
After only half an hour the sun had dropped down enough that the flowers were more subdued in color as though resting in the theater wings until they became center stage once again under the next day's brilliant sunlight.