Poppies and Gilia Overlook
A foreground of California poppies and globe gilia opens onto a shallow valley in the Tehachapi foothills, with the broad Antelope Valley visible beyond. The composition moves from the close detail of individual flowers into an expansive distant landscape, giving the photograph an unusual sense of height, depth and openness.
One of my personal favorites, this vista seemed to open in two directions at once. Close to the camera, globe gilia and California poppies provided intricate foreground detail while beyond them the landscape fell away toward the broad sweep of the Antelope Valley.
What stayed with me was the feeling of openness created by that transition from flowers immediately in front of the lens to the distant valley and horizon. There is an almost weightless quality to the view—a flying-dream feeling, as though the landscape were opening beneath you rather than simply extending in front of you.