So, over the course of this trip, and to the delight or dismay of many friends and family (hard to tell really) I have discovered a long secret love for taking pictures of flowers.  And just of flowers in general, but mostly taking their pictures. So to celebrate my birthday, I thought I would put together a collection of my favorite flower pictures from the past year and a half. 

I think was the first flower picture I took on the trip, and still one of my favorites for sure.  Just slightly imperfect.  But still beautiful.  Taken at Dublin Castle, in Ireland.

Out of focus shot of flowers at Kilkenny Castle in Ireland.  A part of me wishes that it had been in focus (the wind was blowing so everything was moving too much) but I actually really like how it looks anyway.

A rose, for sale in the early morning at a market stall in Manchester, England.  I just thought it was so so pretty, and would have loved to take a few more shots, but the guy selling the flower gave me a distinct ‘buy it or leave it’ look.  So I left it.

One of about a million beautiful tulips at Kukenhof Gardens.  So many of the flowers were overly colorful, withe tons of petals, maybe some sort of fringe around… I loved the simplicity of this one.  Not something that would immediately draw the eye, but beautiful none the less. 

A close up shot of a really large purple flower in Copenhagen, Denmark.  These flowers were really big.  The size of an out stretched hand or at least as big as my face. (roughly the same size)

One beautiful rose in a bunch of roses, from Sweden. 

When I started taking lots of pictures of flowers, I thought I wanted to try and photograph emotions through flowers.  When I saw this flower, I thought it looked so desperate.  I could almost feel how much it wanted someone to sit at the table with it. 

Yellow cala lilies from the flower mrket in Tallinn.  I loved the color and shape of them.  It almost felt violent time me in a way. 

One pansy from Ireland.  Just sticking up, trying to get as much sun as possible. 

Hydrangea flower from Hungary.  There have been so many hydrangeas around this area, probably because there is so much sun all the time. 

Tulips for sale in a market stall in Amsterdam.  So much potential, with raindrops clinging.

Purple flowers in Lahemaa National Park, Estonia.  Photographed blue.  Not sure why, but I swear to you, they were purple.

Everything about these roses from Slovakia looked so antique.  Just a little yellowed around the edges, they seemed very fragile and delicate. 

Alright, so there you go.  Happy Birthday me!  I love flowers!  On to more regularly scheduled blogging in a few days.  😉