Some may think that a photo of a Prickly Pear Cactus flower that shows a delicate Fragility is an oxymoron within the Flower Essences series. Opposite or congruent though, either essence would belong. I would further argue, the photo is instead in line with the cactus from which it emerges.

I placed the focus of the shot at the very near edge of the flower. This gives a heightened translucency to its sides and back. With a dark black background, this transparency feels like yellow glass to me. Even the delicacy of the muted texture of the foreground petals create a feeling that if I touched the flower. I would shatter it. While the composition as a whole has a degree of tentatively to it as we peer inside over the obscured front three quarters of the flower. The juxtaposition of such Fragility with the open hostility of the spines of a Prickly Pear Cactus may seem in opposition of each other, but the cactus itself is probably just as easily damaged by a careless passer by.

Find a cozy bedroom, living room or great room in your home that needs a prominent anchor piece of art. And relax into its wavy, silky folds. For, the Prickly Pear Cactus like many of us, belies a hostel exterior for actual Fragility — Its and Our True Nature.

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