magnolia

I've made a ritual of visiting this magnolia tree every spring. I try to stop by several times over the course of a 2 week span in order to see the before, during and after of her petaled regalia. Having made this pilgrimage year after year, I am still utterly shocked by her beauty. She is doing all this amidst a climate she is totally ill suited for. She puts out so much beauty weeks before any other trees even begin to unfold. A single snowstorm can wipe out all her blossoms, yet with zero trepidation, she shows up and bares everything she's got. I can almost hear her signing a sublime, "Yes!" to the sunlight. During this photo shoot I dropped the Holga 120N. There's nothing quite so quaint as re-coiling one's film, duck-taping the back of the camera shut and issuing the battle cry, "The shoot must go on!” It’s quite surprising how durable the 120mm film is, even after spilling onto the wet grass.