I have not released a blog post in a while (sorry) so I thought about changing things up a bit and share a quick post on a recent trip I took to the Sunflower Field at Dorothea Dix Park.

I’ve heard about the field but never went to check it out, so I figured why not? The field is located at Dix Park in Raleigh, near the Neuse River Greenway Trail. Spanning five acres, the sunflowers bloom between early- to mid-July each year.

The sunflowers are not all just for looks, they serve various important functions. According to visitRaleigh, the beautiful blooms are harvested to create biodiesel, which is then used to power tractors and other machinery. Sunflowers are excellent pollinators as well, and I could definitely tell that given the massive amount of bees I saw while trotting through the field.

Although I traveled to Dix Park to admire the flowers, I also went to try my hand at some photography or, shall I say, putting my skills and my iPhone XR camera. I was very pleased with the result. The main drawback with the iPhone XR is it doesn’t support Portrait Mode for objects. But, when in doubt, improvise and improvise I did. There is an app called Halide that recently integrated functionality to achieve Portrait Mode for objects. I tried it and loved how the photos turned out, which are included below.

Visiting the field is easy and, better yet, free. You can access the field from Western Boulevard, but check the visitRaleigh link for all the info. There is still some time left to check out these sunflowers at peak beauty too. I’m glad I did.