Tuliptree Blossom with Guest
Another Day at Work
Apis Workers' Party
Predator
Some of Your Beeswax
Sedum Bumbler
Look of Defiance
Chicory Bee
Bumbling Bees
Garden Cafe
Buzz By Here - To Infinity and Beyond
Pick Your Poison
Blind Side Attack
On a Mission
Honey Bee on Sedum
Covering the Cosmos
Center of the Cosmos
Three's a Crowd
Popular Spot
On A Pedestal
Big Harry Fireworks Display
To Impress the Girl
Different Perspective
Sweet Ride
Perfect Little Piggies B&W
Flipping the Light Fantastic
Festival of Flights
To the Crowd's Delight
Amish Go Round
Wondersome One
The Stars In Her Eyes
Tuesday's Child
Sleeper Hold
Considering the Next Move
Sugar and Spice
Front Porch Portrait
Caged Competitor
Early Adoration
Child In the Ligtht
Stroll Through the Weeds
Attention Grabbing
Eye Contact
On the Line
Eyes of Wonder
Rounding the Curve
Troubadours of Basin Spring Park
Down by the Creek
Sun Day
Catching Some Light
EAA Fireworks
Hear Me Roar
Bugs
A Spider Beside Her
This is a bit of vintage Pops Digital. This is another image that I found that I haven’t shared on this blog yet.
This is one of those accident shots. I was crouching in the garden, trying to get a good shot of this huge Garden Spider and just as I snapped the image, Sara, my wife stepped into the shot. She didn’t even know I was there.
This photo was selected as Photo of the Day by Earthshots.org
Click on the image to see a larger version.
Keen Green
When asked what category of photography I prefer (such as landscapes, nature, portrait, etc.), I often say, “I just shoot whatever catches my eye.” This is a prime example.
I was climbing up and down a ladder, taking storm windows off my house, when something caught my eye. It was a little flash of green. I paused my work to get a better look.
There is a propane tank next to my house that rests on cement blocks. On the corner of one of those blocks was this little green bug – no longer than the width of your thumbnail. It was frantically skittering over the concrete, but staying in one general area. It was such a beautiful, iridescent, green – made even more spectacular by it’s dance in the bright sunlight. I couldn’t just ignore it. I went to get my camera. (Contrary to what some might think, I don’t have my camera hanging around my neck every moment of the day.)
I didn’t have time to fool around. The way the bug was moving, I was concerned he’d slip off into the grass and never be seen again. My camera had a long, 300 mm lens on it – the kind I use to get close-ups of distant objects like a lighthouse or the moon. (With that lens, I think I can see Alaska from my house.) No time to change to a shorter lens, so I grabbed it and dashed back out.
The bug was still there, but still erratic. I tried getting a ground-level shot, but it’s movements made focusing impossible. I decided to shoot it from above, where it’s side to side movements wouldn’t change the distance to my lens so much. The problem was, I couldn’t hold the camera high enough to get within the focal range of the long lens. I ended up climbing a couple of rungs up the ladder to get my shot in focus. I took several shots. This is the one that was most in focus. Not bad, considering I was probably 7 feet off the ground.
I didn’t notice the white dots when just looking at it. I guess the dazzling green distracted me.
A friend helped me identify this as a six-spotted tiger beetle. You can read more about them here: http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/six-spotted_tiger_beetle.htm
(Click the photo to see a larger version.)
Grass Mustache
It’s springtime in Wisconsin. As the grass is greening up the little critters are also returning to life. On a walk a few weeks ago, I was surprised to find this fuzzy guy already out. It seemed unusual enough to me that I thought a picture was in order.
I’ve studied this photo and can’t figure out which end is the head.
To get a better look, click on the image for a larger version.
Woodland Flora & Friend
Ladybugs all dressed in red
Strolling through the flowerbed.
If I were tiny just like you
I’d creep among the flowers too!
~Maria Fleming
This photo was taken in some woods not far from our home. It’s still early spring here and this small stand of early bloomers were a welcome sight. The ladybug was an added bonus. The surrounding trees, just starting to sprout leaves, provided a gentle filter for the afternoon sun.
To see a larger version of this image, simply click on it.
Guarding the Beauty
This is kind of a beauty-and-the-beast image. The Dianthus flowers in our yard caught my eye. As I moved in to take the shot, the little crab spider made himself known. I didn’t see him until I was right on top of him. I backed off…then moved in…then backed off…then moved in. When I moved in, he would take an aggressive stance. When I backed off, he would relax. Whatever his strategy was, it must have worked well since, judging by the girth of his tiny frame, I’d say he hadn’t missed any meals.
This photo was taken several years ago with my old Kodak camera. A little “vintage” Pops Digital for you.
For a closer look, click on the photo.
On Golden Rod
This bee was keeping busy on a patch of golden rod at the Green Bay Botanical Gardens. I took a lot of photos of the bees that day. This may be the only one that was worth sharing.
Click on the photo to see a larger version.
Found on the Web
Let me introduce you to a web master. Spider web, that is. This beauty is commonly called a Yellow Garden Spider. The technical name is Argiope Aurantia. They are common in most of North America. We have them in our garden and flower beds each year. This one was photographed while on vacation last summer in Missouri. I saw the spider web and spider with a background of yellow wildflowers and thought it created an interesting visual.
Here are some interesting facts about Argiope Aurantias from the University of Arkansas Anthropod Museum…
Females build large webs, up to two feet in diameter. The female usually eats her web each day and constructs a new one, often in the same place. The web consists of dry spokes supporting a spiral thread of adhesive silk. The hub is separated from the spirals by a free zone. The spiders rest head down day and night at the hub of the web over a conspicuous zigzag band of bright white noncapture silk known as a stabilimentum. The stabilimentum apparently affords protection, perhaps by camouflaging the spiders, startling predators, or acting as an aposematic warning of the presence of webs. It seems to be especially effective in preventing birds from flying through webs.
For another view of the same type of spider, see my earlier post : By A Thread.
If you have a large monitor, clicking on the photo may provide a larger version.
Waiting for a Bus
I found this odd looking bugger in one of my wife’s flower beds. Goofy looking and larger than a typical house fly, I worked on sneaking up on it to, hopefully, get a decent picture of it. To my delight and surprise, this guy didn’t seem to mind me. It sat there – just as you see him – while I moved within inches and snapped several photos.
This is an image I captured several years ago using my consumer grade Kodak Easyshare DX7590. That camera was pretty good at macro work.
On a side note: I posted this yesterday on my Google+ account. Someone commented, “That’s a dung fly.” I think I would have preferred not to know that. Especially when I consider how comfortable it was with my presence. (If you’d like to follow me on Google +: https://plus.google.com/u/0/113684854375405108383/posts)
To get a better view of the bug, click on the photo.
The Beeline
Beeline (noun) 1. direct, straight course. 2. To move swiftly in a direct, straight course.
One of my “quests” this summer was to capture a bee in flight. They’re small, quick and errattic. Hard to catch in focus. So far, none of my efforts have come close to what I would deem, “successful.”
The image above is the best I’ve managed…so far…and it was by accident. (That happens more than I might like to admit.)
I was taking photos around a flower bed beside our house. While I was changing camera settings, I accidentally pressed the shutter button. A that exact moment, a bee happened to be zipping into the frame…and voilá.
If I were trying for it, I wouldn’t try in black and white, but looking at this, I really like the intensity it creates. The bee – with his straight antennae, trailing legs and blurred wings – looks like he is on a do-or-die mission and will not be denied.
To see a larger version of this image, just click on it.
To see more bee photos, check out the Bugs & Spiders gallery.
Brown-eyed Beauty
quest, (noun) 1. The act or an instance of seeking or pursuing something; a search.
I have been on a quest this summer…to find and photograph a butterfly. Seems simple enough. (Yeah, right.)
Every now and then I get a photographic target in my head. One of my targets this summer has been a butterfly image worthy of posting on this blog. Judging by the number of butterflies I’ve seen, much less snapped, butterflies have to be top candidates for some endangered species list. Of the very few I have seen, I’ve not been able to get a good, in-focus, shot of one.
In the last few days, I’ve spotted a few in a vacant field next to my work place. I trudged through the waist high weeds, trying to sneak up on them. They are skittish, flighty little buggers. When I did get one in focus, I couldn’t seem to get a good angle on it…where you can see the wings spread and colors displayed.
This image, though short of my ideal, is the best I’ve been able to come up with and the only one I’ve felt worthy of sharing. And, since it’s not my ideal, the quest will continue.
To get a better view of that brown-eyed beauty, click the image.