Unfurl

I was hiking high in the Koʻolau above Hawaiʻi Kai on a cloudy day. I knew the large ʻōhiʻa from walking that ridge often, and I was soaked when I stopped beside it.

I had photographed ʻōhiʻa flowers many times, but this yellow lehua mamo bud was only beginning to open. Its yellow strands were curling outward while the buds beside it were still closed. I had never caught one quite between those stages before. I stopped to photograph it before it opened any further.