Lady' Smock, or Cuckoo Flower; cardamine pratensis

Lady's Smock, cardamine pratensis

Lady's Smock, cardamine pratensis

I have wanted to photograph Lady's Smock for some time, but it appears in my field only very rarely. It is actually a member of the 'bittercress' family (cardamine), examples of which have appeared in this blog several times already.

I caught it, finally, on a dewy morning, with the flowers either in bud or just emerging.

The problem here was complexity.  I took many images showing a profusion of buds and opened flowers, but decided that these were too confusing.  I present two simple images here, hoping to capture the essence of the flower , a sense of awakening, and the fresh dewy morning.  Having chosen the subject matter and the composition, the photography itself was less challenging than it has been lately, as the light was much better, but there are still problems with striking the balance between 'depth of field' and the isolation of the image from the detail in its surroundings.