First post, first year's blooms, Phrag. Eric Young.

[danska8]

Hi all,

New to the board, never have been on an Orchid board before. I'm getting more enthused by mine again after having no good growing conditions for the last few years. I'm mainly a Phal guy, trying to collect species/primarys/fragrant varieties of those. And my other favorites are Phrags, of which I have three.

These are my first new blooms of the year, this plant has three spikes, and this was the first flower to open, which started about 24 hours before I took these. I expect the coloration to increase a bit, but this appears to be a little atypical for an Eric Young from what I've seen. Usually they look more besseae dominant with more red tones in general. However, it's labeled Eric Young (longifolium var gracile 'Birchwood' AM/AOS x besseae 'Neon Flash') originally from ORCHIDbabies, but I bought it up in Seattle.

I'm new to photographing Orchid flowers. I used a shoot through umbrella to light it, and taped a black t-shirt to the wall for the solid background. I'm not a flash or indoor light guy so I'm looking to learn more about it.

Edit: Check a few posts down for pics, full sized images on flickr.