It was a warm spring afternoon when I decided to go for a stroll in the garden. Our dogs happily bounced alongside me as I made my way around enjoying the various garden beds and the plants they had to offer.
At some point, I decided I wanted to sit down on the grass and simply enjoy the fresh air a little. I selected a nice shady spot and sat down cross-legged on the cool grass. It was late afternoon and the sun was already very low in the sky. The cool breeze helped to combat the heat of the day as I sat there.
I had no particular purpose in mind. I was simply there in the moment, appreciative of it all. While there were things in my life that I could complain about, there were many things that I was grateful for. So many in fact, they far outweighed the bad once I stopped to think about it.
As I sat there with a dreamy smile on my face, enjoying the birds flying overhead and giggling at my dogs as they chased after some poor lizard, I heard something that caught my attention.
A buzzing sound. And it was very close. As I turned to look, I found myself staring at a patch of blossoming Echeveria plants. And they had some very busy visitors.
A bee on a flower of the Echeveria plant.
So I had my phone on me and decided I would see if these busy little bees would let me take a few photographs of them as they went about their work. I would like to share the results with you here, as well as some fun things I learnt along the way.
Let me in!
I learnt that the bees didn't seem to mind me putting my phone up close to them. I also learnt that my camera doesn't do well trying to focus on close-up things. It constantly kept trying to focus on objects in the background. My phone was obviously designed for photographing things at a reasonable distance, not insects. No matter, I don't give up that easily, even if I do have to fight a little with the autofocus.
I also learnt from the photo above, that bees don't always wait for the flower to open up before helping themselves. This little lady forced the flower petals apart before having a drink.
I then started playing around with the zoom function on my phone. As I am sure most of you know, optical and digital zoom are quite different and there is a huge difference in quality. It appears my One Plus 5 has 2x optical zoom. If I went higher than that the dip in quality was very obvious. This did however allow me to focus on my busy subjects a little easier without confusing the camera AI by getting really close.
Echeveria blooms
Echeveria is the genus of the plant, yet I am unsure of the exact species. If anyone has the knowledge or a good guess, I am happy to hear it. I did learn that they are not native to South Africa. They are native to semi-desert areas of Central America, Mexico and northwestern South America. Source.
And here we are ticking off our to-do list, flower number one;
Flower number two; which was sweeter I wonder.
So I spent some time sitting there on the grass, taking advantage of the unexpected photo opportunity. My mind couldn't help but wonder how much I probably missed around me simply because I wasn't present in the moment. Had I not taken the time to slow down and simply allow myself to be (yes, I did that on purpose) I probably would not have heard or seen the bees.
Taking a long drink fresh from the source.
And as I sit here and upload these photos, I cannot help but sit gobsmacked at the fantastic colour pallet they present. The subtle green, pink and yellow all blend to create a visual feast.
A last sweet kiss before we part.
These photos are completely uncropped and unedited. I have uploaded them here exactly as they were taken on my phone. Tell me which of the photos is your favourite!
I don't consider myself a professional. I am simply someone who dabbles. All in all, I don't think these photos are half bad. I had to of course delete quite a few before I was left with some good shots. So many blurry bee photos, haha, but that is all part of the fun!
Thanks!
As always, thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read my ramblings and having a look at my photos. Know that I appreciate every upvote and comment. It means you spent time on me even when I didn't deserve it.
Credits:
- Photos by me;
- Busy little worker bees for patiently allowing me to photograph them without getting angry.