H. E. Flanagan Prairie Natural Area, Arkansas - July 4, 2011
After three trips over the course of three weeks, I was able to make this image of the Blazing Star in full bloom at H. E. Flanagan Prairie. Arriving at first light, I walked out into the prairie and set the camera up at this location, toward the rising sun and distant prairie mounds, filling the bottom majority of the frame with the green and purple hues of the prairie for increased emphasis. To me, this less dramatic sky was very symbolic of sunrises often seen during the hot, humid months of summer in Arkansas. I used a two-stop graduated neutral density filter to darken the sky and reproduce the scene as it appeared visually.