Hallucinatory

Well, this is odd.

On reading that the topic for Wide Angle Wednesday this week was Floral, my first thought was, "Well, that is  going to be a challenge."

I wouldn't normally ever use a wide angle lens to photograph flowers because of the distancing effect of a wide lens, and the fact that the further you look from the centre point of the field of view the more distortion you get; plus, the closer the lens is to the subject, the shallower the depth of field becomes - but not in a good way. However, let it not be said that I refuse to leave my photographic comfort zone - and of course, trying new things is part of the fun of taking photos every day.

Actually, if I'd had my thinking head on and put the camera in the car when I went off this morning to run the final exam of the season at Alcester, I could have sorted today's blip in quite a straightforward way by running up to Coughton Court at lunch time and photographing part of the formal garden there. But I hadn't and I didn't, so I couldn't.

Instead I found myself going round my own garden in ever-decreasing circles, sticking the wide zoom right in the face of various flowers - and hating most of the results. In the end I came up with about half a dozen images that I thought were interesting enough to keep. Those of you who know me on FB will be able to judge the set, but the one I decided to feature here is of an opium poppy which has seeded itself in the middle of the rose bed. I thought it was appropriate because to my eye it looks slightly trippy.

Many thanks to ThingsBeautiful for setting such a challenging challenge this week! Next week I believe it will be the start of my month of hosting this, so I'd better start thinking of some topics....