My holiday decorations are not complete without orchids.  This year I bought my orchids from Bird’s Botanical, a family owned business located in the caves at I-435 & 23rd Street, in Independence, Mo.  Only open for business on Tuesdays, it is an adventure just to be there.  The orchids run the gamut of colors, shapes and sizes.

I thought it would be fun to photograph this particularly interesting bloom.  Relying on my D 5100 Nikon and my Tamron zoom lens, I took a number of shots using flash, long exposures, short exposures, and “Auto”, as well as taking photographs from a variety of different angles.  In picking from all of the photographs, I eliminated some because they were blurred, over exposed, under exposed, or just bad.  I finally decided to show you three.  They seemed to me to make the cold winter day a little less dreary.

May your new year be as lovely as this flower.