Bowing Out

Yesterday afternoon while I was raking my yard and clearing all the debris cast upon it since the fall, I kept glancing towards the skeleton of snow-capped hydrangea towering over my front flower bed. The lacy flowers, once Wedgewood blue spotted pink, had faded to a translucent ivory so delicate I yearned to preserve them.
As I raked and raked, I decided to reward myself when the job was done by photographing them. But how could I do them justice? How could I transform the withered specimen before me into the object of beauty I perceived in my mind's eye?
An hour later, at about 4:30 when the sun was sinking behind me, I grabbed my camera and set to work. Choosing the largest cluster, I focused on the bottom pedal and the adjacent buds letting everything else fall into a blur. This time I chose an F8, however, to emphasize the flower yet include enough detail of the green growth coming forth from behind to take its place.
Hydrangea, they're otherworldly, especially when they're bowing out.