Tag: Bumble

Archetypal Bumble Sunflower Shot

The bees are in the sunflowers full force right now. This shot is from yesterday. Only had about ten minutes to shoot. Trying to prepare for the Loveland Colorado art show.

Makes me a little wistful…summer isn’t quite waning yet, but the sunflowers doing there thing is a sign that things will start winding down sooner than later. And such weird variants of sunflowers this year. Some are easily twelve feet tall – maybe even fifteen. Makes it tough to shoot bees on them. This one was at about eye-level, though.

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Experimental Sunflower

Shot this one yesterday late in the day. The light is weird and the bee is in shadows. But…I think it’s kind of interesting. I especially like the way the green blurs into the yellow.

Been thinking about bees as art lots. Obviously. And thinking that while the close-ups are fantastic as a rule – that it also might be nice to have bees as elements rather than the key to the shot. Anyway…

This is what you get for today. Looked pretty interesting printed.

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Double Bumble Wow

So the light and background here are a mess. BUT…you get two bumbles in the same shot – one in flight. On/near/in the ubiquitous (for this site, anyway) cone flower.

Shot this one in August of 2018 and ran across it the other day in my computer. Maybe over the winter I’ll take the time to go through older stuff an use the better ones on this site. So many bee shots…

In other news, today marks six straight months of daily bees! That’s something…

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Bumble in Context – in Flight

Normally I get a little closer when I post these shots. But this one from yesterday… Liked the background. The context. The movement. Even the messy shapes. And that salvia…blooming all summer long in one form or another. Yesterday there were four different bumbles (sizes, species) moving from blossom to blossom.

Hmmmm…just thinking what you experience with these shots vs. what I do as I’m taking them. You see that 1/1000th of a second every day. Often works pretty well. But like this one – I saw four little ones circling and moving and buzzing and busy…looking for that split second. Not sure I’m explaining well because the idea in my mind is as fuzzy as the bumble… Whatever the case – joy in movement and light and color and life. That’s not only enough, but the entirety. Guess it worked.

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Bumble in the Salvia

Love the color of the flower in this one – and how she’s attached to more than one blossom. But I especially love the pollen – all over her back and top of her head. And the pollen buckets. Not entirely laden, but neat to see.

This one just started blooming not long ago. It’s a little less flappy in the wind than the Russian Sage, but not by much. Sometimes it just throbs and hums with bees of all sorts…late afternoon, usually. Great one for the pollinators.

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Bumble through the Salvia

This one is admittedly a messy shot. The background is busy, the bee is partially obscured, and there’s just a whole lot going on in general.

But…it grabbed me. And it’s a good example of the marvelous order and disorder of the garden…and the world.

Apart from a good in-flight grab, I like the pollen bucket, the pollen on her face, and especially the tongue. If you look closely, you can see that it’s split at the end. The dangling legs are neat, too. Bumbles are kinda tough to shoot because darker colors (black in this case) – especially on the face and belly – are hard to get right with light and detail.

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Three Filthy Bumbles on a Thistle

Shot a little yesterday, but I’m not sure how much I like the results…and started running out of time to post. So…

Today, you get three pretty dirty bumbles on a thistle – shot last August 31. I’ve not printed this one yet, but looks like a good candidate given the right crop. Think I got as many as five that day, but the focus wasn’t that great on the five. I like this one lots, though. Was a good day up in the mountains of Utah near Monte Cristo.

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A Bumble from Red Butte Garden

I’ll be on the road still today…so here’s one from last summer. Took it in August in the Red Butte Garden. It wasn’t a dark day at all, but the way the lens worked with the shadows gave it that effect.

They love the Cone Flowers. And a couple here are threatening to bloom soon. So expect some fresh shots on them before too long.

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