Actually, they’re buttonbushes, and they’re a lot of fun to photograph for a few reasons. As flowers go, they’re an unusual and interesting shape, and they grow in groups, so you can play with composition as I did here. They’re marvelous subjects for macro photography, as will come up here at some point, and pollinators love them. Buttonbushes do not exist for long in Chicago; we see them for a very brief time. But in that short time, they attract butterflies, bees, and hornets, all of which are much too busy gathering all that pollen to bother with the photographer.

July 14, 2013. Nikon D7100 (DX sensor), Nikon 70–300mm lens at 300mm (35mm equivalent: 450mm), f/16, 1/250, ISO 400.