I wanted to try to get one of those ubiquitous “sunset lens flare over the top of a sunflower field” shots recently, but I noticed two interesting things.  One is that many fields I used to see full of sunflowers are now stocked with corn.  The government’s tampering in the market by subsidizing ethanol is probably a factor in that.  The other is that I’m a little late; all the fields I saw had sunflowers sporting tattered petals.  There are still a bunch of these little yellow flowers left for some one-on-one time, but it looks like my plans for a stepladder and a field of beautiful golden sunflowers will have to wait until next season.