Wild irises, I believe, possess a simple elegance often lost in cultivars. The challenge is to find them in their native habitats, in bloom, and with weather suitable for photography. Spending a year in Japan (1985) as a Nakasone fellow engaged in cancer research presented my first opportunity to pursue this challenge. With detailed habitat and blooming information, I found and photographed all six Japanese wild irises. In the spring of 1986, I was in Israel searching for irises and the following spring in China. Over the years, looking at the Kodachrome slides I realised that these were privileged moments. As most people will not have the opportunity to travel in Japan, Israel, and China, I feel a responsibility to share these iris portraits. Photography is about angles and perspectives; I believe that it is essential to consider as many as possible when composing a portrait of a person, a flower, a landscape, or a rock. Each contributes to understanding and appreciation of the subject. For this reason, in most cases I have included multiple portraits so you also can appreciate different aspects of the subject. For my portraits, whether flowers or people, after finalising the setup, my last request of the subject is “Talk to me”. I wait until the conversation starts and then capture a privileged moment. For the iris portraits that follow I invite you to join the conversation.