Lest we forget

I have known why the poppy is the symbol of remembrance since history lessons in my early school days. What is strange though, they are not in season on our remembrance day on the 11th of November.

Whilst out on my mountain bike at the weekend the fields were in full bloom of these flowers, since then I've intended to get out to capture them but with the wet weather today was the first opportunity to do so. It surprises me every year how many there are in fields without actually being planted, I guess they must just spread like wildfire.

I find poppies really hard to photograph as they are so papery and often look fake, the other issue is their colour temperature always seems to be different to the scene often giving them an orange or purple undertone. All I used in this shot was a polarising filter at point of taking and a subtle colour correction in Photoshop on flower heads, it really was this vibrant.

Extract from the BBC:

The poppy has a long association with Remembrance Day. But how did the distinctive red flower become such a potent symbol of our remembrance of the sacrifices made in past wars?

Scarlet corn poppies (popaver rhoeas) grow naturally in conditions of disturbed earth throughout Western Europe. The destruction brought by the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th Century transformed bare land into fields of blood red poppies, growing around the bodies of the fallen soldiers.

In late 1914, the fields of Northern France and Flanders were once again ripped open as World War One raged through Europe's heart. Once the conflict was over the poppy was one of the only plants to grow on the otherwise barren battlefields.

Me again:

My Granddad served in the Second World War but I don't have many memories of him, I do have one of his medals and I always think of veterans when I see this flower.

Thanks for viewing

Mr Bo Hingles