Flowers and Bees
It's a sure sign that I haven't been doing much cooking when I start posting non-food photos. For the next week we have house guests, so I probably won't be doing much experimental cooking for a while. (I tend to stick to tried-and-true recipes when other people's meals are at stake.) In the meantime, here are a few more shots of the flowers blooming right now in my yard and some of the insects who visit them. My apologies in advance to everyone who comes here just for the food. I should probably start a separate blog for my non-food photography, but I can barely keep up with this one blog!
Pink Oleander
Bees on my overgrown basil
We have a huge, wild basil bush that's almost 5 feet tall. I've cut it back twice, but it keeps growing out of control. It's gone to flower now, and before I cut it back again I wanted to get some shots of the bees that continually buzz around it.
Bee closeup
Notice how ragged the bottom of his wings are?
Two bees
E's Daylily
E planted her own garden this fall. She has this one daylily surrounded by purple chrysanthemums.
Daylily closeup
Abelia
Bees love abelia, too, but I couldn't get any of them to stay still.
Mystery plant Milkweed with visitor
I planted this, but I can't remember what it's called. Any ideas? [Thanks to a Texas gardener, all mysteries in this post were solved.]
Another mystery flower--this one a "weed" Gregg's Mistflower
Mystery Red Flower Salvia
Another one that I planted and then forgot. Someone help me with my memory! [As soon as a Texas gardener pointed it out, I remembered!]
Apple Blossoms
Our apple tree blooms at the strangest times. Unfortunately, the squirrels get all the apples before they ripen.
Chrysanthemum
I bought this mum at a silent auction at E's old school about 5 years ago, and I'm always happy when it blooms in the Fall.
And finally, here's that rose that I said I was stopping to smell in my last Flowers post.
To all photo enthusiasts, I took all of these with my cheap, second-hand Vivitar 100mm lens and used the macro adapter for the extreme close-up of the oleander flower.
To me, the major difference between nature photography and food photography is the amount of patience it takes to shoot flowers and insects. I'm used to being in control of the subject when I shoot food photos, but when I'm working outside, I have to deal with the light shifting and--most frustrating of all--the wind blowing and causing the flowers to move. Today as I took these photos I tried to practice some sort of Zen detachment as I waited for the wind to calm and the bees to come into the frame. I'm not a patient person by nature, so this was a good exercise for me!
Pink Oleander
Bees on my overgrown basil
We have a huge, wild basil bush that's almost 5 feet tall. I've cut it back twice, but it keeps growing out of control. It's gone to flower now, and before I cut it back again I wanted to get some shots of the bees that continually buzz around it.
Bee closeup
Notice how ragged the bottom of his wings are?
Two bees
E's Daylily
E planted her own garden this fall. She has this one daylily surrounded by purple chrysanthemums.
Daylily closeup
Abelia
Bees love abelia, too, but I couldn't get any of them to stay still.
I planted this, but I can't remember what it's called. Any ideas? [Thanks to a Texas gardener, all mysteries in this post were solved.]
Another one that I planted and then forgot. Someone help me with my memory! [As soon as a Texas gardener pointed it out, I remembered!]
Apple Blossoms
Our apple tree blooms at the strangest times. Unfortunately, the squirrels get all the apples before they ripen.
Chrysanthemum
I bought this mum at a silent auction at E's old school about 5 years ago, and I'm always happy when it blooms in the Fall.
And finally, here's that rose that I said I was stopping to smell in my last Flowers post.
To all photo enthusiasts, I took all of these with my cheap, second-hand Vivitar 100mm lens and used the macro adapter for the extreme close-up of the oleander flower.
To me, the major difference between nature photography and food photography is the amount of patience it takes to shoot flowers and insects. I'm used to being in control of the subject when I shoot food photos, but when I'm working outside, I have to deal with the light shifting and--most frustrating of all--the wind blowing and causing the flowers to move. Today as I took these photos I tried to practice some sort of Zen detachment as I waited for the wind to calm and the bees to come into the frame. I'm not a patient person by nature, so this was a good exercise for me!
Tags: flowers photography bees Mississippi
posted by SusanV at 4:32 PM
24 Comments:
Don't apologize for these beautiful pictures. They are lovely! Your patience certainly paid off.
Polly
From a Texas gardener:
The red and yellow plant is a Mexican milkweed, which attracts a lot of beneficial insects. The blue one is Gregg's mistflower--a native around here. The mystery red is some sort of salvia, I think, but I can't remember the exact name. Thanks for the pictures.
Beautiful photographs! I'm amazed that the bees are attracted to the basil plants that have gone to seed (or should i say flower!)
-JT
jackietopol.com (i lived on an organic farm this summer and have lots of fruit/veggie/flower photos on my site if you're curious!)
These pictures are stunning! The bees especially, are captured so well- breathtaking!
I spent some time taking pictures of flowers in a greenhouse recently- I'm convinced I could do that for the rest of my life and never get bored...
Hello,
This is my first visit to your blog. My friend in Colorado visits all the time for recipe ideas and sent me your way. I can't wait til I have a bit more time to come and "wander around" your site a bit more !
I just had one question. What country do you live in ? I'm in Australia and the flowers here are looking a lot like the flowers you are taking photos of where you are ! Love the photos, by the way ! The first one of the bees ... where the bee is flying towards the basil ... that's my favorite.
Susan - these photos are completely stunning! I love the bee action shots!
Nice action shots!
you're pretty lucky that you have an abundant array of gorgeous flowers right at your backyard, sometimes i wish i was as garden savvy as my friend who's a Tacoma florist
Lovely - simply lovely!
GORGEOUS! I love that mum & the bees shots are awesome!
Wow, I have never seen a bee that close up! They're beautiful and so are the flowers
I have to quote Ze Frank here: "Look! A flower's genitals!"
But lovely photos, all the same. I can't believe how gorgeous that rose is. It looks like something manmade!
What lovely photos Susan! I second yr idea to start a non-food photography blog!
Thanks for the tips about the close up shots. I'd also be grateful if you could share how you took the two bees and the Abelia shots with the blurry background plus in-focus foreground?? Many thanks!
As is obvious, am a very very amateur hobby photographer!
I've been reading your blog for a few weeks and it's really interesting.
You're such a talented photographer!
I spent quite a lot of time looking for nutritional yeast this weekend without much luck. Hopefully I'll find some soon and I can try out some of your tasty-sounding recipes!
Vegan food is plant-based, and the wonderful flowers are also the beautiful product of plants.
I think this vegan food blog , sprinkled with some amazing flower pictures ,captured with your great talent is a feast to many eyes.
This blog is perfect!
Your pictures are beautiful and your recipes look amazing as well. I agree with what you said about not experimenting with food for guests. I too, am a big experimenter in the kitchen and I know how it is to have something not turn out right. Of course we eat it anyway, but it wouldn't be nice to serve it to a guest. Haha. I actually just put up my first YouTube videos yesterday where I made an experimental, vegan lasagna from scratch. I'd love for you to have a look. Thanks! www.eatingconsciously.com
so, what recipes do you consider tried and true? everyone who recommends your site says that all of your recipes are amazing. i hardly know where to begin!
Thanks everyone! I'm glad to see that all these flower photos are appreciated.
Thank you especially, Texas Gardener, for the flower info.
Bonnie, I live in Mississippi, in the southern US. While we don't have a sub-tropical climate here, there is a long growing season. This October has been especially hot (highs around 90) so lots of blooms to be photographed.
Seetha, if you have a regular digital camera, the trick to getting the foreground in focus and the background blurry is to use your macro setting. Most cameras have one, so check yours. If you use a digital SLR like I do, you simply shoot with the lens completely "open," using the lowest F-stop number that your lens has. That allows you to use a faster shutter speed and besides blurring the background helps capture those insects before they move and spoil the shot.
Blueangel, I can only find nutritional yeast at the natural food store here--regular grocery stores don't have it. If you can't find it locally, you could order it online, at least in the US.
Eating conciously--love the video!
robiewankenobie--When I'm feeding guests, I'm usually feeding their kids too, who can be picky. So I don't do fancy or "gourmet" stuff, just home-style food that most people like. This weekend I cooked Mexican Lasagna and it was a big hit. Some other dishes I might do are regular Lasagna, pesto pasta salad, soup (either the Garden Vegetable and Bean Soup or one the lentil or split pea soups), Vegetable Couscous, a pasta dish such as this one or a simple stir-fry. For non-vegans, I try to keep the food as non-threatening as possible and keep the unusual ingredients, such as tofu, to a minimum--or hide them really well!
I'm not a vegan (or a vegetarian), but two of our close friends are, so I am loving the opportunity to explore some different recipes. I'm certainly tired of pasta and red sauce when he comes to dinner. :) And I do love to experiment.
I really need to set aside some time to play with the photography side of food. I have (a 4 year old)3.2 mexapixel camera that I know has a lot more potential than I've been using it for. Your photography tips link is inspiring me to try a little bit harder, since what I see looks so much better than what comes out of my camera.
thank you ever so much for your response! i'll be trying out your suggestions soon...i'm trying to get my parents to cook something other than veggie stir fry when they make a vegetarian meal. this ought to do the trick :)
I really love the daylily and the crysanthemum.. I must like yellow.
Those ragged wings.. he must be a Grandpa bee.
Thanks much Susan!
Your pictures are amazing - great talent. This is my second visit to look at them. Love the bees.
I'm a photographer and I shoot kids, so I LOL'd a little when you were saying it was frustrating that the wind moved your flowers. I'm used to having .02 seconds to get my shot.
I do have a secret love for still life photography. It's so nice when nothing moves!
Your photos are fantastic as always. I love your flower photos and of course all your photos of food are great. I can never get my food photos to look at all appetizing.
i wanted to thank you again for your recipe suggestions. i had an omnivore friend who wanted to cook a meal for her niece that was dairy free. apparently she's living off of chicken nuggets at home. blech! well, she ate a piece asked for more, and insisted that the rest be packed up for her. my friend is sold on your recipes now, and her niece has a whole new world of options. thank you!
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