Variety

A very, very pale Blue Camas!
There's a fair amount of color variation in a camas field. 

White always stands out the most. 

Camas Study 6

Thank you for all the input yesterday on camas selection; it helps me in narrowing down my decision. I'm finishing up calendar layout today, so I have to select on short notice which I don't like to do. After looking through my camas photos, I decided to post today's photo in the study as well.  I liked it for all the subtle variations in blues and purples. I do think this will be the last camas photo for the season. Hopefully I can finish up the calendar layout today and get out with my camera again tomorrow...

Camas Study 5

Well, I made it back to the camas field this morning for a third time this season.  I tried to go yesterday, got all the way to the park, headed out on the trail, turned on my camera, and realized that the new battery I loaded was not charged.  An unfortunate breakdown in my system.  So I headed home and got my batteries charged for this morning.  The field has aged noticeably in two days, so if I get a strong urge to visit one more time this season, it will have to be in the next day or two, and given that our forecast turns to rain tomorrow I think today's visit was probably my last for the season. Sigh. I haven't even looked through all my photos yet, so I expect I'll post a few more in this study. (Sorry if anyone is tiring of it, but this series of photos has represented some growth for me, and I'm interested in working though that a bit more. Plus I'm super infatuated with the flowers if you haven't noticed!) Today's shot is actually the last one I took.  I was heading down the hill to leave and kept stopping and photographing as I went.  I'm glad I made the stop for this flower, because this was just the balance of focus and not-focus that I was looking for today.  Plus I think the color is pretty in its richness.

Camas Study 4

This morning I headed back to the blue camas field at Lacamas Park in the aptly named town of Camas, Washington. I only took my 80-200 lens, with the goal of taking a super isolating closeup of a camas blossom, done in the style of my photography icon, Jim Brandenburg.  Feeling pretty good about this one.  I'm starting to get the hang of this kind of photography, and I actually think I'll head back there one more time tomorrow morning to try out a few other ideas I have.  The field is absolutely magical early in the morning.  It's a common theme with the other sunrise folks, runners, hikers.  We are all so awestruck by the overwhelming beauty of these flowers that you have to stop and share it with anyone you happen to meet, so I end up having a lot of conversations with the other early risers as we marvel at these beautiful flowers.

Camas

I first discovered a blue camas field back when we were living in Olympia, and it was a wonderful sight to come upon.  Camas is found throughout the region, and in fact the nearby town of Camas is named for this flower.  This particular field in Lacamas Park is in bloom right now, and maybe through next week.  I've tried to do some research on the plant, because it's historically relevant to the region.  Camas was a Native American staple.  Called quamash by the native tribes here, it also goes by the names blue camas and camas lily, and is related to the hyacinth east of the Rockies.  It has a bulb-like root, so I was imagining it to be something like an onion, especially with the purple flower, but from what I've read it is more like a potato.  I've never seen it served around here though; the fields don't seem to be all that plentiful so people tread carefully through them during the few weeks that this beautiful flower is in bloom.

May 16

I went back to the field of blue camas flowers at Delphi School today. This shot is really more about the bee than the flowers though. I had my ISO set to 400 from earlier in the day and forgot about that, so I ended up with a super fast shot (1/1000 sec) which really froze the bee in action. I wish it was in a prettier patch of flowers, but it does show how quickly the flowers are fading. In fact I doubt I'll go back to photograph there again; I think the flowers will be gone in a day or two. Of the three shots I did at this location my favorite is the May 15th wide view shot with the dewy flowers and schoolhouse in the background. I tried that shot again today with the afternoon sun behind me but it didn't have the same depth. f/5.6 at 1/1000, 200mm, ISO400.