No, it's not really sun bleached. That's just the way it looks. Maybe
slightly over exposed by the camera settings.
A few evenings ago, I went out at dusk and brought it in. It was just
opening that day and thunder storms were forecast. I didn't want it
damaged at that point. It has been under some fluorescent lights since,
to finish opening (and waiting for me to get around to taking a picture).
I just ran downstairs to take a look at the actual plant. The picture is
about right. The mid areas of the petals are very light. More contrast
with the extra color at the petal edges. The picture from November shows
the petals to be much more even in color.
I think I like the November look better though it's interesting to see
it now too.

Steve

Susan Erickson wrote:

Steve did the flower sit in the sun after it opened or did you
photograph it quite soon? I do like the brighter lip. But the
petals loose so much. It looks like they were sun bleached.
Quite a difference. Usually it is just the difference in bloom
or pbulb size not the sun bleached effect that one sees.

When we first moved from Chicago to Colorado some of our plants
doubled the size of the pbulbs and the tall narrow style Pbulbs
were twice as tall. It was an unbelievable difference in plants
that were mature before the transfer.

Thanks for the show.

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php