The Tale of Two Flowers

To be native to a place we must learn to speak its language. — Robin Wall Kimmerer “Braiding Sweetgrass”

At the time, I simply felt grateful to find Desert Sunflower at the roadside waiting for their photo, but the story of these two flowers still affects me weeks later.

The heat had caused a superbloom to dissipate within days. And that happened a week before my arrival. I was still hopeful I could find wildflowers amid the remnant of spent flowers going to seed.

Not far into the mountains, I drove after sunup searching for just the right flowers. Desert Sunflower dotted the roadside but were ragged, not photogenic. After some hiking near the road, I happened upon this pair. They were at first not much to look at. Twin-like in appearance, I thought they should pose for a shoot. Just then, the wind came up as it does mornings here as the air heats the desert. That day the temperature would go over 100 again. In the morning it was more breezy than steady. The flowers danced in the wind. I was at ground level almost on my belly as I tried to find the best angle and bokeh for the shot on the road’s edge. They wouldn’t stop moving. After several minutes of missed attempts, I suddenly felt their presence and they mine. I asked them to please stand still for just a few seconds. That was what I needed to get their photo. I felt them acknowledging my intentions. And then they stopped as the wind calmed briefly. In that moment I got off several images. They started moving again and I asked again for a brief pause but got no response. The wind rose and a whole row of flowers began to sway. I felt that they had decided to go back to their dance with the others and no amount of cajoling would work. I was done.

In those moments, my world had become the flowers’ world. We were one. I became a part of their world in ways difficult to describe. The human world melted away and I was a part of something much larger: the desert, the mountains, the wind. There was real peace. I felt joy and gratitude to be part of their world. I was fulfilled in a way I only find being in nature in its special wild places. I thanked them and their friends, got back into my car and thought about these two for a long while dancing in the wind.