We have lived in this house for three years now. It came with roses; All I know is that they show up every year in early summer and are just amazing. But all flowers look different with a close-up photograph. It’s more intimate; the flowers secrets begin to be revealed.
Not that this is some perfectly symmetrical flower. It’s worked hard to get to where it was today. You can see the fatigue of reproduction in the petals, but they are still perfect at their job: here is my pistil; here are my stamens.
Be sure to click on the image above to see it at a larger size; the details are beautiful close up. If you have a small screen, I’ve provided a blow-up of the center of the image below.
Shot by hand at f/11 and 1/600th second with the Zeiss Otus 100mm f/1.4 lens, using a half-inch spacer to allows focus closer to the subject.