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This series of images was taken along a 100 yard stretch of Hwy 99 outside Darien, Georgia.  What was so amazing is that this collection of wildflowers was scattered along the roadside in a narrow strip about 10 yards wide between the roadway bern and the wetlands.  It was late September, long after the usual wildflower displays of spring and summer, and I shot about 16 different species in about 90 minutes.

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    Credits: Photography, Mark Basse.

     

    I got sidetracked.  As I’m driving to Darien on GA 99, I noticed a nice array of Morning Glories pass my passenger window, so I turned around and pulled the Element over.  Once I was no longer whizzing by at 55 mph, I could see what I almost missed.  An amazing display of late summer wildflowers, all within a 6 foot wide swath running along the roadbed.  All within 100 yards of the car.

     

    I think I’ve shot 15 different specimens, with a couple of more out of reach.  Usually by this time of the year the flower show is over, at least along the shorelines and in the woods in this part of the coastal plain.  But here today, every step I took brought a different wildflower into view.

     

    Used two lenses at this location.  The Nikkor 60mm Micro and the Nikkor 18 to 200 DX.  The 60 mm is indispensable for flower work;  and the 18 to 200 has turned out to be a great lens.  Always sharp, very close focusing.  I was helped along by some cloud cover that offered some nice, natural diffusion.

     

    I had to step into some muck and weeds to get a few of these shots.  The wildlife encounter was one solitary fiddler crab and a lot of bees.  The real wildlife was driving on the highway in the passing lane.

     

    The fun point of this is I wasn’t expecting to get a good wildflower fix this late in the season, but I always bring the gear anyway, because you just never know.