Camellia Ruby wedding

A Ruby Wedding is the day when people celebrate 40 years of marriage. This blip has absolutely nothing to do with wedding celebrations but I suppose some enterprising plant breeder gave it this name in anticipation that lots of people would subsequently choose it as a gift for this occasion. It just caught my eye at a garden centre at the very beginning of March, and I pictured twin blooms in my journal on 7th April with a degree of sepia filtration.

This time you are seeing it exactly as it is in all its glory with its layer upon layer of rich ruby petals. I set it on a high position relative to where I was standing, with the sky as background and the sun coming obliquely from the front left and the white house wall acting as a fill-in reflector. This has provided a degree of translucency in the outer petals but allowed detail in the shadow side. I used my Olympus SLR as I required a longer focal lens to isolate this single bloom. It is the only one left now and I'm intrigued to see if any more develop.