Lupine Tree - Oroville, CA

I had been doing landscape photography for three years, and somehow, I’d never captured a single wildflower photo. It gnawed at me, but this year I made a promise: I had to get the shot.

With spring in full bloom, I headed to North Table Mountain just outside of Oroville. I’d heard the wildflowers there were unmatched, and the timing was perfect. The air was crisp, the scent of damp soil and wild blossoms drifting with the breeze. I wandered through clusters of lupine, and wildflowers as far as the eye could see for hours. The ground soft beneath my boots, my camera snapping constantly. Still, nothing quite... clicked. As the sun began to dip and I made my way back, I accepted that maybe I’d leave with “almost” shots again.

Then... Just as I was almost back to the car, I saw it. A single oak, silhouetted against a glowing sky, standing in a sea of purple-blue lupines. I was on the phone with my wife, and had to tell her, "sorry I'll call you back, I have to take a photo." I crouched low, heart racing, and framed the shot. My finger hovered—click.

Three years, countless miles, and I finally found the photo I’d been chasing. Or maybe, it found me, right at the end of the trail.