These images were made while I was deployed to Iraq in 2006 to 2007. I was intrigued by the thorns, the foliage and the delicate white flowers. I determined the best time to get the flowers was early in the morning before the influx of personnel and vehicles. Once I was through with missions for the day I would go and make some images of the flowers as time permitted. These images are from those forays into the early morning or late afternoon. The flowers would bloom and then die by the end of the day. These plants seemed to exemplify the contrast that was the Iraq I experienced – delicate beauty in the midst of great heat, the fragile white blossoms in the midst of long sharp thorns, beauty in a dangerous world.