The hidden kitten

Yesterday, I had to run several errands – some doctor’s appointments (Chuck is okay), dropping off my Bob & Ron’s Fish Fry artwork to Arlene’s Artist Materials to get it framed up (it’ll be two weeks, plenty of time for Competition Season 2019), and a few other things.

And in the afternoon, I had a spare hour to myself.

I didn’t get a chance to head over to the TulipFest during the weekend, but I could still get some photos of the tulip beds in Washington Park if I headed over to Albany’s green space right now.

I put my Nikon Df in the car.  Let’s do this.

There were still some flower-gazers at the park, and most of the tulips were still in a reasonable form of bloom.

I recently purchased a ring flash for my camera, which provides an even flash AROUND the camera lens.  And since it was still a clammy, cloudy day on Monday, I figured the ring flash would bring more beauty out for these pictures.

Ooh look, nice dark blue hyacinths.

It’s one thing to take pictures of flowers in a garden.  They’re beautiful and they’re peaceful and they’re tranquil.

And everybody does these photos.  Somehow you have to do something different, to stand out, to find a new angle or a new concept.

Oh this is nice… there’s one tulip that seems to have slumped over, looking almost like a vintage “glory horn” from an old gramophone.

Picture’s kind of soft … let’s try shooting straight on.

And …

Wait a second.

Let me take another glimpse at this.

and if I take this picture and clean it up some more … brighten things up…

I get this image when I’m done.

I had originally thought the flower looked like one of those grade school “fortune tellers,” but it was brought to my attention, when I shared this picture on Facebook yesterday, that there appears to be a kitten’s face inside the tulip petals.

Of course, now that someone says that to me, your can’t UN-see the kitten’s face.

So officially I name this picture … The Hidden Kitten.

And off it goes to the short pile.

I mean, it doesn’t hurt to put it in the short pile.

Especially if you see that kitten inside the petals.