I really liked this photo the moment I framed it, and I was very pleased it came out as nicely as I had envisioned.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D TTV Argus Seventy-Five, Tokina AT-X M35 Pro DX AF 35mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1, 1/12 sec at f/11.3. ISO 200. Monopod and handheld. Cropped in Photoshop Elements 8.0. Phipps Conservatory.

Why This Photo: Even while working on this TTV photography, I still couldn't resist the urge to fall back on my favorite form of photography - macro. This mass of purple flowers just worked great to get close and fill the frame with the repeating pattern of the flowers.

What Works: The focus is spot on even through the Argus Seventy-Five's viewfinder. The distorted edges does a great job of blending the pattern of the flowers right out to the edge of the frame. And the colors and exposure levels are perfectly matched to what I actually saw through the viewfinder.

What Doesn't Work: The biggest thing I missed in this shot are the two dark spots between a couple flowers because they broke up the pattern, and the same holds for the small light spot in the upper left corner. The smaller dark spot and the light spots at the top could probably be ignored, but the larger dark spot is somewhat distracting.

Oddly enough, this shot lacks any of the dirt specs that exist in a lot of the other photos. There must be something with the focal distance of the subject that causes those specs to be visible or not.

But like I said, I really like this shot. The simplicity of the shot is juxtaposed by the intricacy of each flower, allowing the viewer to just get lost in the frame - or at least I think so.

- Bill