Copper Creek Sunflowers

Viewing Platform in the Field of Sunflowers

I got a call from the owner of Copper Creek Farm inviting me to come up and photograph the sunflowers before he cut them down. You may remember the photo of the barn that I took for the calendar project last fall. Well, he has to prepare the area to plant the corn, so the sunflowers were to be no more—until next year, that is. He rotates the crops to keep the soil from getting worn out.

Entrance to the Sunflower Field

It's a nice drive after you get off the highway. You travel down a pretty, two-lane road with lots of bends and turns, where this time, I was almost going to go home with my meals planned out for the next few weeks. There were two wild turkeys walking in the road as I came around a curve. Thank goodness nobody was coming the other direction so that I could safely swerve out of the way.

Covered Wagon and Sunflower Field

Being that this was a last-minute outing, I didn't get to pick the weather, so it was somewhat overcast. Compared with my photos from last fall, it was a very different sky, but still there were so many beautiful things to shoot that made up for that.

Copper Creek Farm Barn with Zinnias

I wanted to photograph the barn again. He had zinnias planted where the corn was last year. I must admit that I was hoping for some sunflowers in front of the barn, too.

Orange Zinnia with Bee

Directly in front of the sunflower field were more zinnias—in every color you can possibly imagine. Zinnias are one of my favorite flowers, too. I have never planted them, I think because they are annuals, but I enjoy them so much that I believe I will try them next year.

Yellow & Pink Zinnia with Bee

The sunflower field was really pretty with the traditional yellows and several colors in the orange and red family. I had heard of other colors of sunflowers, but had never seen them in person. I'm not sure what my favorite one was called, but it was sort of a copper color—how appropriate for Copper Creek Farm.

Copper-colored Sunflower and Bees

There are paths so that you can walk into the sunflower field, but the first thing I had noticed was that there were tons of bees. Almost every flower had at least one bee on it, and I saw as many as four on some flowers. I walked a little ways in and no lie, the field was humming. But the bees really seemed to be only interested in the flowers.

Dark Red Sunflower

If, however, you are allergic to bees or are just scared of bees, I wouldn't recommend going inside the field. You really do have to take a leap of faith that the bees will ignore you.

Twin Yellow/Orange Sunflowers

The owner is wanting more photographers to come up next year, and I promised him I would help spread the word. If you're interested, reach out to me for more details about special days and/or times.

Do you like to photograph sunflowers? How about bees?
Would you like more information about visiting Copper Creek Farm?