Hello, old friend

In January of 2003 I bought my first digital SLR -- a Canon EOS D60. And in April of that year I bought a hydrangea plant at the local garden center so that I could photograph the flowers up close. I then planted the little plant outside our front door. Well, it's a LOT bigger these days and today I photographed it again. Sort of a "hello, old friend" thing.

I used a 100mm macro lens and handheld these shots, bracing myself on the deck railing. I'd forgotten how much fun hydrangeas are to photograph, and so in the upcoming week I'm going to be playing around a lot with these flowers, using extension tubes, close-up diopters, and more. Workin' it for a week -- that's the mantra. ©Carol Leigh