A Golden Chain Tree

Come springtime my blog is half fashion blog, half blossom watch! I love chasing down every variety of blossom in our corner of the country and documenting it before it's gone. These golden chain trees are one of the late bloomers in our region and oh-so-pretty. Their yellow, trailing blossoms seem to be dotting the countryside every where right now, the sunny days making their vivid color all the more powerful. This was actually one of the few sets of photographs we've taken where we were waiting for the sun to go away. Because there was really only one angle we could get due to the stone wall we kept hoping for clouds and dodging the sun to get our photographs! Shooting pictures in the middle of a bright day usually makes for very unflattering photographs and harsh shadows, so on those times we would normally seek out shady spots (like the woods or between tall buildings) or try to shoot with the sun behind me (the subject) for a softer look. But when you have a specific location in mind and only one angle you're more captive to the sun's whims! It's not often a problem in Ireland when it usually is a bit cloudy or grey, but lately the sun doesn't seem to want to leave us (and I'm not complaining!). So we snapped these pictures in brief pockets of time as wispy clouds diluted the sun's rays. It was worth the battle with the sun to get these lovely pictures of the golden chain tree; like so many of the best flowers they don't bloom for long and in a few weeks you would never even realize these trees held such majestic blossoms!