On the first weekend of April (2023) my father and I returned to Seven Bends State Park, a couple weeks after our first visit, and discovered the Virginia bluebells were in full bloom along the river. Of course, we also found it to be a very sunny day with lots of wind, so photographing flowers wasn’t the most obvious choice of pursuits that day, and yet that’s what I did.

We first noticed the bluebells when hiking down from a hill, seeing hints of blue along the base of the hill. What you see above is how it looked when the sun finally went behind some clouds and the wind eased up just a bit. What you see below is how it first looked with the sun out in full.

Hiking closer to the river we found even more Virginia bluebells, though that area was a very busy one. To see what I mean check out the photo below, showing bluebells all along the ground with lots of trees and vines all around.

Before leaving the area I was determined to get one portrait of a Virginia bluebell. And that’s when the sun came back out and the wind picked up. But I setup the tripod, framed my composition, came up with my settings and then waited… and waited… and waited… until that brief but inevitable moment when the breeze stills for just an instant. Thankfully that also happened when the sun was behind a cloud, so I was able to capture a quick and simple portrait.

And just to show what it looked like the rest of the time, below is a 1/3 of a second exposure demonstrating how windy it was.

A sunny and windy day may not be the best time to photograph flowers, but if you’re there you might as well give it a try anyway. If nothing else you’ll have a story to tell afterwards.

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