Green Hood Orchid

Our Camera Club had a Field Trip today to Whites Bay; about 30 minutes’ drive from Blenheim. Eight of us spent several hours up in the bush lined tracks above the bay hunting for the elusive native orchids. It is extremely dry in the bush at the moment and quite a few of the species we found had already flowered and not worth photographing. There were plenty of Sun Orchids but they, alas, were still in bud. It was a dull cloudy day which gave good diffused light for close-up photography. And close-up it certainly was for some. Our two teenage members were right into it and came up with some great images. I lost enthusiasm a little towards the end of our session but patiently waited for young Joe who was delighting in his new 100 mm macro lens. He had borrowed one of my tripods and was using it in the most contorted positions to get in really close to the orchids. That lad will go a long way with nature photography. I have never seen anyone so incredibly engrossed for so long. I will take the teenagers back next weekend in the hop of photographing Sun Orchids in bloom…that is weather permitting. I have warned Joe that I will wear warm clothing and take a seat and my Kindle so he can spend as much time as he wishes capturing the very best images!
My image is of a Green Hood Orchid. I have not photographed wild orchids before so I was quite pleased with at least one or two of my images.