South Dakota’s state flower, the pasqueflower, holds a special place in my heart. They bud into being in the earliest days of springtime, like spring’s first children, and their resilience is astounding. After a few seasons photographing them, I decided it was time to put together a gallery of these little gems of the West.

There is an obvious progression in these photos, both in terms of compositional quality and in terms of technical quality, with my most recent (and favorites) at the top, but every one of the photos I included are photos that I enjoy, for various reasons.