Texas Bluebonnet Explosion

jamesl

What an amazing Spring it has been for bluebonnets in Texas! The terrible drought last year made it very difficult to find fields full of the Texas State flower. I'm happy to report however that the heavy rains this year have changed all of that.

Bluebonnets have a small window of around 3 weeks where they flower. I made it a priority this year to get out a couple of times in order to capture the bumper crop of flowers.

The Full gallery can be seen here: http://www.langfordphotography.com/For-Sale/Texas-Hill-Country/22119308_JvPxK7

My first outing was a weekend trip to Fredericksburg in central TX. This town is famous for it's Bed and Breakfasts and it's small town appeal. It also is located in the Hill Country, a hot spot for wildflowers. The first day there we spent scouting out locations for the next morning's sunrise:


The cemetary in town had a beautiful display of flowers.


A nice scene on the side of the road outside of Fredericksburg

We scouted out a great location that I ended up returning to the next morning. As I left town at 5 am the fog was so thick that I could barely see the road. As I approached my location in lifted just enough.


Prairie Mountain School


Pastel Colors

The next morning I visited the Willow City Loop, a very popular location for viewing bluebonnets. Early in the morning it is almost always empty of people.





My last couple of outings were to the little town of Ennis just about an hour to the south of where I live. I decided to head out a couple of times before work to catch the sunrise. I'm glad I did as the area had more bluebonnets than I have ever seen before.







Thanks for looking! :clap

James

Hikin' Mike

My wife really wants to visit Texas. Great series!

N3QW

Nice series, especially the last two!!!!

jamesl

Hikin' Mike wrote: »

My wife really wants to visit Texas. Great series!

It's a great place to visit in the Spring before it gets hot! Thanks for the comments!

jamesl

N3QW wrote: »

Nice series, especially the last two!!!!

Thanks! Those are my favorite as well.

slpollett

Those last two are incredible! Where was that?

We made our wildflower adventure in a 'loop' around Burnet to Marble Falls to Johnson City to Stonewall to Fredericksburg & back. It was awesome. We had intended to head north from Fredericksburg to Llano and swing through the Willow City Loop, but we wimped out & just ran out of steam. My husband and daughter said they had seen enough flowers for one day.

As good as our wildflower day was, we never found a field like that shown in your last two shots. I would have loved to have seen that one in person.

Thanks for sharing.

Sherry

Overfocused

#3 and #9 love em!

bTar

I don't mean to offend anyone and I know I'll sound ignorant, but I would have never imaged photos like this from Texas. You did a marvelous job with this series - just stunning!

redleash

bTar - Texas has a bit of everything, mountains, desert, swamps, coast, and more. Of course, I'm partial to its beauty.

James, these are wonderful. I'd heard Ennis was great this year and you've shown it off well. I love your shot of Prairie Mountain school--I shot there last week too but I was there in late morning and the light was of course too harsh. Didn't make Willow City this year but I heard it was excellent. I've always thought it crowded but you said it wasn't bad in the morning so I'll try it. May be too late next week for the bluebonnets but it's still a lovely drive. Love this series!

Lauren

jamesl

redleash wrote: »

bTar - Texas has a bit of everything, mountains, desert, swamps, coast, and more. Of course, I'm partial to its beauty.

James, these are wonderful. I'd heard Ennis was great this year and you've shown it off well. I love your shot of Prairie Mountain school--I shot there last week too but I was there in late morning and the light was of course too harsh. Didn't make Willow City this year but I heard it was excellent. I've always thought it crowded but you said it wasn't bad in the morning so I'll try it. May be too late next week for the bluebonnets but it's still a lovely drive. Love this series!

Lauren

Howdy Lauren,

Yeah, you are probably going to be a bit late for the bluebonnets as you said. I took the shots from that area almost a month ago. That was my first time to Prarie Mountain School. I will definitely be going back. Willow City is insane during the day but almost completely dead in the very early morning for sunrise. You just have to be careful about where you park, and don't trespass on anyone's property. They will run you out quickly and there were actually sheriffs sweeping through there to ticket folks when I was headed out.

Thanks!

jamesl

slpollett wrote: »

Those last two are incredible! Where was that?

We made our wildflower adventure in a 'loop' around Burnet to Marble Falls to Johnson City to Stonewall to Fredericksburg & back. It was awesome. We had intended to head north from Fredericksburg to Llano and swing through the Willow City Loop, but we wimped out & just ran out of steam. My husband and daughter said they had seen enough flowers for one day.

As good as our wildflower day was, we never found a field like that shown in your last two shots. I would have loved to have seen that one in person.

Thanks for sharing.

Sherry

Those second two shots our near Ennis. Google Mach Road and Sugar Ridge Road. Both are very small (only 1 mile long) and have amazing fields. I'm afraid it may be a bit too late to visit them this year, as I suspect they are somewhat grown over by now.

I heard that Marble Falls was really nice this year. The Willow City Loop really wasn't all that great compared to past years, so you didn't miss much. Most of the large fields in that area were up near Llano.

jamesl

Overfocused wrote: »

#3 and #9 love em!

Thanks!

jamesl

Aaron Nelson wrote: »

James, #4 is my fav. Would have liked a little more room on the left side but still amazing and a wall hanger. What a great outing!


#3 Is also one I liked over the others (not say'n any are sub par), processing looks perfect.

Thanks Aaron! Great feedback. I need to get a couple of these printed up. Just too busy with my real job.

James

jamesl

bTar wrote: »

I don't mean to offend anyone and I know I'll sound ignorant, but I would have never imaged photos like this from Texas. You did a marvelous job with this series - just stunning!

Thanks! Texas can surprise you! I've been here 14 years and this is the first year I've really gone out to seriously shoot the bluebonnets. I'm definitely going to do it again next year.

Doug Solis

Wonderful series I especially like #3 #4

PGM

Truly spectacular series, James! Best, Pam

CatOne

The first two shots in that last group of 3 are really outstanding. I'd hang those on my wall if I were you :-)

jamesl

Thanks folks! I appreciate your comments!