Of all of the flower displays and intricate topiaries and other living works of art at this festival, I think the orchids in Mexico might wow me the most. And it’s probably because I can’t keep an orchid alive to save my life—and here are the botanists at EPCOT, managing to have absolute ropes and chains of them hanging and thriving on the trees around the Mexico pavilion, particularly along the pathway to the right of the pavilion itself.
I’ve gotten to a point in life where displays of expertise like this bring me peace. I think so many of us were raised to think that we’re all supposed to get a little bit good at everything. The figurative Jack of all Trades. I can’t keep an orchid alive, and that should be a chip out of my capability levels as a person. But really, the right way to go is probably to pick the thing you love the most and get so good at that that everyone else can relax and focus on their thing. Mexico pavilion botanists, I know the orchids are in the best possible hands. Thank you for freeing me up to spend my days being the best that I can at this instead.
I have dozens of pictures of the orchids in Mexico. Purple ones. Pink ones. Yellow ones. Long ropes hanging from trees and close ups of single flowers. Any of them could have been today’s shot. They’re all beautiful. But I chose this. Yellow orchids against a blurred background of their more traditional purple companions. Shot with my 50mm and settings were pretty simple and typical for me: minimized my depth of field (meaning only the front flowers are in focus and everything else is all soft and blurry) with an f/1.2 setting, shutter speed 1/400 seconds to cut the light a bit, ISO 100.
Cheers to a new month. May you spend a good chunk of it getting even better at that thing that you were put here to master. These orchids are here to remind you that that's time well spent.