Identify and photograph five different types of flowers.

“I peered down at a yellow-petaled beauty. The leaves were shaped differently than similar flowers I had spotted, elongated and a slightly darker, more foresty green. The arrangement of petals seemed different, too. I pulled out my phone to capture a few pictures. As much as I wanted to identify it right away, it would have to wait—I was hiking with my kids and a couple other homeschooled families in a local nature preserve, and hiking worked better if I didn't stop to admire the flowers every five feet.”

“Then, I take a few pictures with my phone. I try to get photos of the flower head-on, of the leaves and stem, and the plant as a whole. I use some of the photos for my printed guidebook, and some just for the identification process. Depending on the context, I don't necessarily try to identify the flower right away. Sometimes I'm busy with the kids, or we're hiking, so I need to do some or all of the identification research later!”

“On a rainy day in early August, we took a hike along the north fork of the Big Thompson River in Colorado. There were wildflowers everywhere, so I took lots of pictures, including a photo of a wild rose hip covered with orange powder. When I got home, I was determined to find out what the flowers were called, so I got out my field guides and got to work.”