August 11 photo of the day

Maybe I should call this one "flower of the day." I love all four of these images, so I want to share them. At the top of the stairs in my house is a tropical biosphere of sorts. There are two windows in the stairway which faces south-southeast. The stairs and the upstairs hall are always bright and the warmest part of the house. Among a half dozen or so plants, there are two bird of paradise in giant pots - one blooms in late November and early December. A double exposure image that I call "Fan of Paradise" can be seen on my new Kate Lynch Photographs website.

I have a tropical hibiscus in a large pot in front of one of the windows that usually blooms in late winter and early spring. I've had the plant - a shrub, really - for about 10 years. I bought it at Home Depot in Phoenix right before I moved to Washington. For the past few weeks, the plant has been showing a couple of blooms every couple of days. This week, I have noticed about six buds. One started to unfold last night. I didn't photograph it until first light this morning. So I'm calling this series First and Last Light. I photographed the tighter blossoms about 6 a.m. and the open blossoms about 8 p.m. The flowers are really spectacular at every stage. I plan to photograph another blossom from the very beginning.