morning magic: passionflower

finally!  at last!  the passionflower, state wildflower of tennessee, in full bloom!  i've been wanting to get photos of it open for a good two years.  it appears i just wasn't getting out of bed early enough.  now that i've seen it irl, i realize that it's totally worth getting up for.  when i encounter little miracles like this i can't help but think that god is an amazing scientist and awe inspiring artist.

photos taken with a macro lens which has a very shallow depth of field.  since the passionflower is so intricately constructed, it's impossible to get all parts in focus at one time with this lens.