It feels a little bit later this year but our big Magnolia tree in our backyard is finally coming into bloom. The buds emerging and then finally opening into the giant, wide, brilliantly white blooms. I love seeing them emerge - they are not only a reminder of the season we are in but they also remind us that our beautiful tree is healthy. Because of the height of the tree, however, it is difficult for us to get close to any of the blooms so I am usually using my telephoto lens to draw in photos of them. From a distance, each bloom looks uniformly without blemish and similar in shape. But after zooming in, it becomes clear that each is unique. Each has echoes of the others but the way each opens is different and, through the long lens, you begin to see that there are different spots and blemishes on each of the flowers. But those are only seen when getting close.