August is a great month in the southern Rocky Mountains.  The monsoons rains have arrived to moisturize the landscape, and the color of wildflowers expands to include yellow and gold, along with the purples, blues, and browns.  The wild sunflowers that dot the highways come into their own, but the ones that are cultivated in the rich bottomland are absolutely in-your-face gold and enormous.  I photographed them on two different days, in varying light and stages of flowering.  In the first two shots, I took advantage of mid-morning eastern light, resulting in crisp but not too blinding gold color.

sunflower for blog 1

sunflower for blog 2

While shooting the second group of images, the sun was in and out of the clouds, providing a softer light.  It also gave me the opportunity to showcase the stems that were beefy and furry.  The back sides of the flowers are almost as intriguing as the front.

sunflower for blog 3

sunflower for blog 4

What would a sequence be without a black and white, toned image?

sunflower for blog 5 black and white

Thanks for TTT and Ben for providing today's photographic material, and to Connie, Jean and Sam, Christina, Barbara, Debra, Suz, Elida, Terry, Dianne, Lisa, Ingrid and Robert, Steve, Lue, Ellen, Lawrence, and Maria for commenting.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image@