Before I start in on bluebonnet season, I’m pleased to make a few announcements. First, for the third year in a row I have several photographs featured in Texas Highways magazine. Next, over the winter I have been working on launching a new website – Images from Colorado. While it is far from complete, it is up and running. I’ll be working at adding a lot of images over the next six months. The descriptions and keywording each image just takes a long time. And that process will slow down as wildflower season gets into full swing.
As we turn the page and head into April, bluebonnets should be nearing peak. However, thus far this wildflower season has been less than stellar. This past week I drove over 500 miles through the hill country looking for a few colorful fields. Many of the roadsides were nice, especially on Highway 29 between Mason and Llano. The spaces between the road and fence lines were full of bluebonnets sprinkled with red Indian paintbrush. Still, the fields were relatively barren of colors.
Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush, two of Texas’ favorite wildflowers, filled this roadside between Mason and Llano. The sun lit up some low clouds and brought another gorgeous day to the Texas Hill Country on this late March morning.
All my driving yielded little except a few nice sunrises taken along 29 and some morning photographs from the famous “bluebonnet house” in Marble Falls. The pasture in front of this 100 year-old stone house had the most bluebonnets in over five years. Because I live pretty close to this location, I waited for a really good sunset. Despite some of the photographs that have been posted on popular hill country Facebook pages, I can assure you there have not been any spectacular sunrises in Marble Falls since the bluebonnets have bloomed. For some, photoshop is a best friend, and non-disclosure is obvious. But that is a topic for another blog! And even more crazy… one afternoon when I drove by this old house surrounded by bluebonnets, a family had evidently crawled over or through the barbed-wire fence in order to take their family photo – this despite the “No Trespassing” signs posted prominently about every 15 feet Anton the fence! Anyway, on a few nights there were some high soft clouds that made for pleasing pastel colors of pink and blue.
Bluebonnets surround and old stone building in Marble Falls, Texas, in this morning panorama. The high clouds were soft and gave a pastel feel to this calm and peaceful sunrise. These favorite Texas wildflowers were the best in many years at this site.
This panorama of bluebonnets is available in larger and custom sizes. Please contact me for more information.
With little clouds to speak of, I decided to use what God had provided. I stayed late and shot the night sky over the bluebonnet house,p. To make the stars really shine in a photograph, I useda star tracker to take long exposures of the stars without any trailing. While the Milky Way doesn’t appear in the north, the stars at night are big and bright and still magnificent.
Under starry skies of a clear spring night, this field of bluebonnets in Marble Falls slept in the still air. I arrived early to shoot this iconic location – commonly known simply as the “Bluebonnet House” at both sunset and after dark. The winds were calm and the skies were nice. When I arrived, many photographers lined the fence to capture this Texas landmark surrounded by Texas wildflowers. As the sun faded and night crept across the Hill Country one by one those folks left, leaving only my camera and me.
Using a star tracker, I took long exposures of the sky facing north. At this time of year, you won’t find any dazzling Milky Way images to the north, but you can see the North Star as well as the Little Dipper. This classic bluebonnet landscape was taken about an hour after dark. I hope it conveys the sense of history, beauty, and nostalgia that I felt that quiet evening.
Thanks to a new friend, I received a tip about some healthy bluebonnets not far from Marble Falls. Immediately, I headed out before this location became public knowledge and before the bluebonnets were trampled by family-portrait folks. The winds were calm, clouds easy and soft, and for an hour we enjoyed our time photographing what so far is a rare scene this year. In one particular spot, a single firewheel (also known as an Indian blanket) rose above the bluebonnets. I photographed this little red wildflower from all directions before settling on one particularly nice angle. I don’t think I could have planned it any better.
I love this lone red-orange firewheel among a sea of bluebonnets. I took several different angles of this field, but this was my favorite with the splash of red rising up from the blue. These Texas wildflowers were found just south of Marble Falls. The air was still and the evening was just about perfect. I stayed later and photographed the Milky Way in the early morning hours over this same area
That night, I lingered in the bluebonnets and decided to shoot into the early morning hours and capture the Milky Way as it crawled across this beautiful field. The sky was taken with a star tracker and the results can make for a large print! In one of the Milky Way photographs I even had the good fortune of capturing a meteor. I did not recognize this until working on these the next day.
In the early hours of the morning and well before sunrise, the Milky Way appears over this beautiful field of bluebonnets in the Texas Hill Country. To achieve maximum sharpness, this image is a composite photograph. The foreground was taken about 45 minutes after sunset when just enough light allowed some depth and clarity to show in the bluebonnet landscape. A little after 3am when the Milky Way was in position, I used a star tracker to take a long exposure of the night sky. Back at home, and after some sleep, I used photogshop to blend the two images together to show what they eye could see but the camera could not capture. I had not noticed the meteor in the Milky Way photograph until I got home. Sometimes you just get lucky!
Near this same location in Marble Falls there is a small herd of longhorns. In one of the fields where they graze, patches of bluebonnets are scattered across the pasture. More than several times I drove by this location but the longhorns were never in good position. Finally this past Saturday just before a major storm, I found them sitting among the blooms (and any Texan knows that if cattle are laying down, that means rain is on the way!) With this nice surprise I was at last able to photograph a few of these regal and rugged creatures within the bluebonnets.
A longhorn and a calf rest easy in a green pasture surrounded by patches of spring blueobonnets. I’d been to this field numerous times but the longhorns were always too far away to be photographed. Finally, they arrived and allowed me to get in a few shots before standing and sauntering off.
When shooting these or any fields of Texas wildflowers, I usually take several images of the same scene with variying depths of field. Back home, I’ll align and merge these images into one photograph in order to achieve maximum sharpness throughout the image. Most of the bluebonnet photographs from this year consist of at least four separate images blended together. The panoramas are made of eight or more photos stacked and merged. This process is tedious but allows me to provide my clients with the highest quality. And being obsessed with details myself, this is the only way I’d do it!
With the recent rains these last few days, I’m hopeful the wet weather will stimulate a future bloom. The hill country still has reds and golds to offer, and perhaps even a few bluebonnet surprises. Time will tell.
Thanks for reading!
Via con dios.
~ Rob
Images from Texas