Orchid Gone Wild!

I've been wanting to show you some updated pictures of my orchid.  I showed you some pictures of it, the beginning of January, when it was covered with buds.  Now, a month later, all of the buds have bloomed. It currently has over thirty flowers!

Since the orchid is in my classroom, it was really difficult for me to get a good picture of it.  I couldn't get a picture without a desk or a bulletin board in the background. My classroom is adorable, and some day I'll blog about how I decorated it, but I wanted to get a picture of just the flower-No Distractions.
I "Googled" orchid images (Have I ever mentioned how much I love to Google?).  I did some research and learned that I needed a backdrop, a tripod, and an additional light source.   
So we headed on over to our neighborhood WalMart and bought a tripod and a shop light.
I read that black velvet makes a nice backdrop, but that wasn't currently in my budget (neither was the tripod, but oh well).
So, being the thrifty gal that I am, I used a piece of paper. 
Yup, just a long sheet of recycled bulletin board paper.

 I am trying to figure out how to take good quality pictures with Megan's DSLR camera, but it isn't as easy as it seems.  It is going to take some serious studying and hours of practice!
So, for the time being, my answer was to take about 100 pictures and hope that I would get a couple of good shots.

 Here's what I got:

This beautiful plant has brightened my winter days.  That sounds really cheesy I know, but it is true.  Every morning, I turn on my classroom light, and there it is, with new flowers that have bloomed;  each day prettier than it was the day before.