2008 was a great year for wild flowers in southern California. There was lots of rain for the first time in several years and the hillsides were profuse with colorful blossoms. Not every year is so lavish with these colorful blooms. The California Poppy was especially plentiful the spring of 2008 and so you will find many different renditions of this colorful flower in this gallery.

The picture on this page was taken on a breezy afternoon. I became frustrated at trying to catch a lull in the wind when my wife said just let it blur. So I set my camera at 1/8 second exposure and used a 2nd curtain flash to freeze the moving flowers and let the motion blur add to the image. I really like the result. You will find a higher resolution image of this shot inside the California Wild Flowers Gallery.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. If you would like a print of any of these photographs please contact me at alvance@charter.net. All images on my site are for sale.