Cactus Flower

Cactus in full bloom

One of the interesting things about desert plants is how quickly and briefly they bloom.  On my morning run one day this week I noticed one of our neighbors cactus flowering, and since the flowers rarely last more than a day I grabbed my camera as soon as I finished cooling down and shot this image.  As it turns out my timing was perfect.  When we walked by with the dogs a few hours later the blooms had already started to wilt.  Hasselblad 500C/80mm with Portra 160, f8@1/500 sec.