Tag Archives: flowers

Flowers and Foliage

A Small Collection of Nature’s Color

When I’m walking with my camera, I can’t help but stop, admire and photograph the flowers along the way. These walks might be close to home along the neighboring streets, strolling in one of the nearby gardens or hiking through some of our country’s amazing national parks. There are flowers everywhere.

And while an admirer of flowers is called an anthophile, I’m definitely not an expert. In fact, I know the names of only a few.

Anyway, let me just present my photo collection of flowers and foliage

Princess Di Tribute

A Business Trip Becomes Memorable

During the summer of 1997 I was in Paris on one of my usual trips to Europe. I recall that the streets were relatively empty since many French were on vacation as is customary during August. I was able to enjoy some sightseeing without undue crowds.

I was getting ready to wrap up my meetings in France and head to England for further business when news broke that Princess Diana had been killed in an automobile accident in a Parisian highway tunnel. The tragic news of her death filled the French television and radio stations, the newspapers, the personal conversations.

Two days later I arrived in London. No one was discussing anything but the death of Princess Di. All of London was preoccupied with public grieving, paying tribute to their royalty and preparing for an upcoming funeral.

I walked around the city, specifically near Kensington Palace which was Princess Diana’s residence. Thousands upon thousands of mourners were flocking to Kensington Palace and Kensington Gardens to lay flowers and pay their respects to the Princess and her family. As you can tell from the following photographs, there were flowers everywhere. I was told that flowers were in short supply and the local florists had to import additional flowers from the Netherlands and other nearby countries.

Here are some of the photographs that I took during the days before her September 6th funeral.









 
Although this was such a tragic event, the worldwide response of the public, especially those who trekked to London was heartwarming.

For a very recent article about her death 25 year ago click here.

For those who may want more information about Princess Diana please click here.
 
Written by: Arnie Lee
 
 
 

SuperBloom

Death Valley Shows Its Colors

Yesterday I returned from a trade show in Las Vegas. While there, I heard about one of nature’s spectacles. In nearby Death Valley a rare happening was taking place. Armed with my camera, I made the 2-1/2 hour drive to experience the so called SuperBloom.

Death Valley is the driest, hottest place in North America. Although the climate isn’t very hospitable, wildflowers do appear each Spring. But I learned that this past October rainstorms set in motion a series of conditions that led to a literal explosion of colorful wildflowers that blanketed the normally harsh landscape of the park.

Here are a few recordings of my visit to the 2016 SuperBloom:



I’ve been fortunate to have visited Death Valley at least a dozen times previously but I’ve never seen as many visitors taking in the colorful wildflower as I saw two days ago.

Click here to see a Park Ranger describe a “once-in-a-lifetime” visit to Death Valley.

How lucky I was to be able to see this unexpected event.