A wild Orange Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), the California State Flower, closes its petals as the sun goes down, outside the deYoung Museum, in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, May 8, 2022.
*Digital black and white negative, with some small leaves removed. I shot this poppy as a small ray of sun landed on the flower petals from the left side while the rest of the bush remained in the shade. I propped up an 11x14 board behind the flower that had a gold shiny surface, almost the color of the poppy, to blend the grey tones the black and white camera reads, and give the overall image a studio effect while capturing the energy of a living poppy.
