The Bible calls it a land flowing with milk and honey, suggesting a land of abundance and fertility, yet we know it to be a desert environment. The Bible also names numerous plants that grow throughout the region, yet we know it as a harsh and rugged terrain. This seeming paradox about the Holy Land has been a source of wonderment to numerous travelers to Israel.

"The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose."

I recalled the words of the prophet Isaiah as I awaited the miracle of the spring in the Holy Land: the rebirth against overwhelming odds, of hardy wildflowers that make a valiant show of color for a few weeks each year.

The magnitude of the spring miracle that occurred took me by surprise. a rare combination of winter weather conditions produced a technicolor spectacle worthy of Cecil B. De Mille: the biggest, brightest blossoming in 50 years. Botanists even witnessed the resurrection of plant species long thought to have disappeared form the land.

So many folks ask, "How can you miss with flowers? Flowers are so intrinsically beautiful they must be easy to snap, right?" Not so! Just because flowers can be so beautiful in their own right, the photographer has to elevate them above reality. The picture has to be more spectacular than life to make people take notice.

Like a child in a pastry shop, I wanted to capture this abundance of visual riches in photographs, but hardly knew which way to turn first. As a photographer, I understood the pitfalls of depicting such intrinsically beautiful; subjects. I would have to elevate my pictures above reality, and make them more spectacular than life for people to take notice. To accomplish this, I decided to record this phenomenal desert bloom in impressionistic, rather than documentary, fashion, so that viewers could not only see what I saw, but also feel some of what I felt.