The Covid-19 lockdown measures have prevented me from travelling more than 5kms from my home for the past 3 months. However, I am lucky in that my home is surround by bushland, and as its Springtime here (Southern hemisphere ) we have an abundance of native wildflowers, and in particular a large variety of native Australian orchids. Most of these orchids are quite small, and this particular example, the spotted sun orchid (Thelymitra ixioides ) measures about 20mm across. Although the plant can grow to about 60cm tall, this one was about 25cm. It can vary in colour from mauve, to soft pastel blue to quite dark purple, with up to 20 flowers on the stem, usually a lot fewer though. I found a cluster of these flowers on the north west facing slope on my property about 200m from my house. The medium format Pentax 645 with the 120mm Macro lens is an excellent combination to photo these exquisite orchids. Its a heavy combination but its stable and provides super sharp images.
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Dimitri Vasileiou • Editor