Yesterday I went on a day trip to Yellow Springs Ohio with my good friend Angie. While driving down a curvy Ohio back-road, we saw the most amazing field of sunflowers. We couldn’t resist. We stopped by the side of the road and spent several giddy minutes walking along the edge of a magical, living Vincent van Gogh painting. Note – even though it looks like Tuscany, I swear this field is just outside of Yellow Springs Ohio, not Florence, Italy! 🙂
I’m still a bit wobbly when I walk so I decided to leave my heavy camera equipment at home knowing that my still-healing ankle couldn’t support a day of walking with the awkward extra weight. The images in this post were all taken with the factory-installed camera app on my iPhone. Did I long for my wide angle and my fast 50? Yes! Still…I’m impressed with the power of my little phone’s camera even if the colors are punchy and the the shadows and highlights are a bit off. I’m happy. I’m happy to have friends like Angie who will pull off the side of the road to shoot photos. I’m happy for summer days in the sun. I’m happy for the joy of unexpected fields of sunflowers.
A Little Known Secret on Taking Candid Images of Friends While Traveling:
When you travel with friends and family there is always a moment when you are exploring a new site together when you go one way and they go another. You’re off to buy more water. They are off to take more photos of the bell tower. You are going off to capture an image of the lone tree in the sunflower field. Your friend is headed into the field to take some up-close images. This is the moment. This is when you walk off a few paces but then turn around and snap some candids of your companions. Your loved ones will be focused on the bell tower. Or, as happened yesterday, my beautiful friend Angie was leaning gracefully into the sunflower field wholly engrossed in the loveliness of the moment.
In joy,
Melinda Eliza