Month: July 2022

This isn’t a really good example of this flower. Great bee – but the blossoms look lots better on a more mature blossom because they spread out wider and more perpendicular to the vertical of the rest of the flower. Here’s the complaint: these flowers open early in the morning…well before the sun hits them. That’s not a terrible thing, but when I go to shoot bees on them at eleven or so, they’ve already closed up for the day. For the photographer (the drawer/writer-with-light guy), that means that I’m often shooting at/on them before the sun crests the mountain – and there’s not much light to draw with. Frustrating because they’re such a great flower and the bees do love them.

It’s easy to imagine that all of the in-flight shots with the tongues out are captures of the bee heading to the flower – all charged up and ready to drink. You’re welcome to continue to think that (and it’s still what I imagine when I see a shot like this), but these types of shots are usually caught as the bee is leaving the flower – before she retracts her tongue.

I like this shot for its simplicity. Single stalk. Single bee. Quiet background. No wind that morning. Just that cooler, quieter time before the day begins in earnest. I think the feel from this shot captures that somewhat.

Just a pretty simple shot of the longhorn in a sunflower. Lots of sunflower variants every year…and those variations are a direct result of the pollination that the bees do. Simple shot, but a good one.

Kind of a goofy face on her today. But I love it. Good look at her eye and tongue. She’s grooming herself. They pause sometimes and become very fastidious about cleaning their tongues. Good time to shoot them because they stay in one place for a bit.

Note that there’s a photobomber in the background. Light is kind of silly on the flowers, but it’s great on the bee. Love them in flight! Oh, and that’s thistle pollen on her.

The truth of it is that luck plays a role in getting a good in-flight shot. Not saying that there’s not a good bit of skill and practice involved. There is. And I get lots luckier the better I get with the camera. This one is just fun. Delightful. And that Russian Sage. Might just give up and acquire the URL: www.dailybeeonrussiansages.com. Or something. Maybe best to stick with bees.photo. I can remember that one, at least.

Was thinking this morning that I wished that I had more shots on the daylilies. So…of course…as I was looking at the globe thistles, I saw this huge queen carpenter bee bouncing from daylily to daylily. She didn’t even really stay long enough to alight on any one. Her strategy seemed to be to bounce around and get filthy. In some of the pics, it’s impossible to tell where the daylily’s anthers and the bee’s pollen sacs begin and end. Neat. Oh, and because it was so early in the morning (and overcast to boot), I was shooting at only about half as fast as I normally do. But I did get a few neat shots.

One of the bluest flowers in the garden – Ceratostigma plumbaginoides. The bees aren’t on it often. And when they are, they don’t stay long. Felt lucky to get this look. Great face, tongue, and pollen basket. And the flower’s cute, too. Morning light today so the whole thing is a little blue (evening light has more yellow to it). Yeah, yeah, yeah, white balance and all that…but it’s still true.