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!

Tags: flowers photography bees Mississippi