This is the first in a long series of bees on imperfect flowers (this one having been ravaged by grasshoppers). One of the basic tenets of photography, I’m told, is to pick the best examples of your subjects (and backgrounds) that you can. For this site, I’m not sure I agree. Not only because it’s primarily about the bees (and it is), but also for a couple of other, related reasons.
First, there’s beauty to be found all the way through the cycle. This deserves more than a single sentence (and maybe I’ll yammer about it sometime), but it’s just true. And not only because it’s part of the cycle – but because the beauty is inherent.
Second, there are some who manicure their gardens – they “deadhead” the moment a blossom is past its prime – or if the blossom is damaged. That’s one point of view. And I’ll not argue with it. But I will point out that the bee doesn’t give even a single, half-a-damn that the flower looks torn up. There’s pollen there – there’s energy there – there are winter stores there… And she’s hard at work on this particular wreck of a blossom.
It’s really more than just “the eye of the bee(badpun)holder”. It’s real. It’s what’s for dinner.