Dead Sea Bougainvillea

• Archival print on rag paper

“Dead Sea Bougainvillea” is a vivid, sun-drenched photograph that finds a single bougainvillea in full, defiant bloom against one of the most arid landscapes on earth. The bush — an extraordinary mass of fiery orange and deep red — fills the center of the frame, its exuberance made all the more striking by the bleached limestone hillside, dry stone wall, and parched desert scrub surrounding it on every side. A bare-boned utility line cuts across the clear blue sky above, grounding the image in the everyday even as the flowering bush insists on something more extraordinary. Like much of Fitts' travel work, it is a photograph about contrast and surprise — beauty flourishing precisely where you least expect it.