A Moment of Harmony

D2: The Bee's Knees

I've FINALLY started carrying my camera with me when I run errands. I've been helping my dad get his house ready to put on the market, and I'm currently working on the garage. Cleaning, touching up drywall, painting, etc. I was standing around, thinking about what kind of picture I wanted to take today, and it came to me. There are some large bushy-shrubby looking plants out by the front of the house, and they come into bloom in the late summer. This late bloom has been accompanied by a TON of bees. Well maybe not a ton, but at least a hundred at one time.

I've stood out in the front yard before, watching the bees as they made there way from flower to flower, doing the job outlined by Mother Nature. It's kind of harmonious when you can stand out there in the middle of them and just watch. They have so much going on in their little world that they could care less about me and my camera.

Well, I quickly became disappointed with auto-focus, switching to manual for a little more control. This was a great idea, mainly because my camera wouldn't listen when I told her to focus on the bee and not the flower.

I tried to follow Brutus(yes, I named a bee), but he was kind of scatter-brained. He was a beautiful bee, very regal looking and quite different from the others. Brutus had a way of waiting until I had him in focus, and then darting off to the next bush. I settled for a more mature(in my opinion) bee that spent a little more time on each flower. It seemed to give each flower the attention a mother gives her daughter when brushing her hair.

It wasn't quite the shot that I was looking for, but I am happily satisfied with the results.

Manual: Page 194 - The Low-Pass Filter

Upon learning how to check your sensor for dirt or other foreign objects, I thought of a great question. How many of you have your cameras professionally cleaned every few years? We spend so much money on camera bodies and lenses, yet I can't remember the last time I heard a fellow tog talk about getting their equipment cleaned. I'm sure I am just a horrible listener. Tomorrow I'm going to look into where I can get my equip cleaned.



Images: Bambi Cantrell's name sounds familiar, but I don't think I've seen any of her work until today. She does an AMAZING job at capturing emotion in her portraits. It's so inspiring to look through her portfolio. I hope to one day capture people in the same way that seems to do so effortlessly.