Dutch Tulips When Spring Is Just a Twinkle in Nature's Eye

Winter does not last long in coastal Connecticut, but the signs that it will one day end are welcome. One of these is the arrival of tulips en masse at Trader Joe's. They appear on shelves of overflowing buckets when the days are still cold and the occasional snowstorm remains a possibility. I buy enough to fill a child's hands with a fist of stems, thick as the thrilling bouquet of blooms we bought for friends one April at an open-air market in Delft.

For this photo collection, I worked with several bouquets I kept in the kitchen window. They grew daily, moving to follow the sun and growing like teenagers until they had long, gangly stems with blooms that would droop if I forgot to water them and then bounce back up within hours when I did.

The tulips were welcome bursts of color as the backyard shifted from muted tones to white and then back again. I often stand in front of that window, washing dishes or just staring out. I noticed the tulips shift with the different types of light—full sun coming in strong at a winter angle or diffused by clouds or the flower petals themselves—I picked up my camera to see what I could capture from different angles. I crouched below the counter and climbed up on a chair to stand above them.

I had not yet ventured into macro lens territory, so I used a zoom lens instead. Observing the flowers in this way allowed me to see detail and variation I had never before noticed.

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