Fields of Golden Sunshine

Everyone had been talking about the sunflowers up in Maryland so Bill and I drove up there with camera gear and his 6ft ladder. The fields weren't as crowded as I'd suspected but it was still hard to concentrate on being artistic with the air so sticky and oppressive. I was covered in bug spray after getting bitten so badly the last time I was here and the smell was horrendous. I could almost sense the poor sunflowers shrinking away from me as I passed by. But at least the nasty little buzzy flying things were ignoring me.
Bill set up his ladder immediately and I wandered further down the field, wanting to have the flower heads facing me as we'd entered the field from behind them.

These flowers are just as interesting to view from behind though so I grabbed a few photos, trying to get my creative juices flowing.

It looked like this little chap had been busy. He was certainly going to need to clean up before he went home yet he had no plans for leaving and zig zagged his way back and forth across the flower, head down and completely ignoring me.

I'd never really noticed before just how much pollen came from these flowers.

My little crystal orb came out for a shot and Bill set up his ladder near me. An Asian couple joined us with their small step ladder and we utilized both of them, sharing each other's props. We had a great view from the top, a sweeping panorama of yellow sunny orbs on a emerald sea.

Our friends had come prepared and the lady wore traditional garb for her portraits. Before long other folks were walking over and using the ladders too. We ended up with quite a crowd and saw no hope of leaving so we suggested $5 a go, and they started hanging back, allowing for our getaway.

I spotted a lot of dragon flies along one of the paths and noticed that the end of each branch tip had one perched at the end, as though they were trying to get the best spot to catch the very faint breeze that occasionally wafted across the fields.

We spent about 3 or so hours among these golden globes before hunger and thirst got the better of us, and we were just desperate to get out of the blazing heat. Enthusiasm was waning and I didn't feel I'd done as well as last year with my sunflower photos, but there's always Burnside Farm which will open up in the next couple of weeks.

A couple of photos of Seneca lock before we left Maryland and the sunshine fields behind us.