Photographing The King of Himalayan Flowers

The Saussurea obvallata , popularly called the Brahma Kamal is an exotic plant endemic to the Himalayas in India, China and Burma. It is goes by the name Nishagandhi (meaning Fragrant one of the night) in the south. This plant blooms just once a year and has large white showy flowers that reach full bloom between 9 pm and 12 am. If you missed it then, you missed it altogether! Luckily, we had placed one in our garden a few years back and it bloomed last night! More luckily, we got to see it, and I got to capture it in action.  They have large fiery tentacle-like bracts that just clash with the radiant white, perfect for luring night foragers. Enchanted by the crazy fragrance, I took over a hundred pictures in one wild spree!
Some of them were taken under candle light, while others were taken under white light of other cell phones. In my other posts I have shared some of the pics under different effects or shown you how they appear under candle light. The latter didn't turn out well, as they candle light fails to bring out that radium- like glow of this night blooming beauty.
Here, I have shared some of the better ones, not just for the love of photography but for the sake of the lovely experience as well. As you can see, I love trying out angles and frames!
Hope you will like them. Do send me suggestions (in the comment box below) on how I can refine my technique!

       

                                

This one even looks like a face!