Superbloom

The seeds in this photograph waited years for one wet winter. Most springs the Carrizo Plain stays brown, a dry grassland folded between mountain ranges a few hours from Los Angeles. Then the rains line up, and it erupts.
Millions of hillside daisies opened at once that week, running unbroken to the foot of the Temblor Range, its folded hills streaked gold with their own bloom. One cloud drifted over the ridge and seemed to stop there for a longer look. The whole valley hummed with bees.
A field this loud tempts you to photograph all of it. I framed it simply instead, flowers below, mountains across the middle, one cloud above, and let the yellow do the talking. That restraint is the point. It gives you the moment you step out of the car, when the color reaches you before you can find a word for it.
For anyone who has driven a long way on a rumor of flowers. Printed and finished to gallery standard, made to keep one wall from ever having a bad day. A piece of a rare California spring to keep.