Bee My Valentines

While out on a training run (that’s right Ron, not a “practice” run) I came up with a clever title for a post.  This may seem odd to a non-runner, but trust me, when out on a long run you are looking for ANYTHING to keep your mind off of the fact you are actually on a long run.  The enjoyment of being out in nature – hearing the song birds encourage you along the way coupled with seeing animals frolicking about the woods can only keep you distracted for so long.  Eventually your muscles break through that nature bliss and remind you … well, that you are on a long run.  At those times, I try to concentrate on what’s on tap for the next post.  Now that I had the clever title, I sifted through my image queue and found an appropriate set…
Bee on flower taken at Biltmore Estate July 2014
… and then I forgot to write up the post in order to publish on the appropriate day – total failure.  All that cleverness left in shambles gasping for air on the floor of the digital darkroom.  Finally decided to swallow my pride and go ahead and finish this post 9 days late – sigh.  Now don’t get to lenient on me, these Bee shots were taken all the way back in July 2014.  So technically I’m like 3 Valentine’s celebrations late but let’s call it a rounding error.  I decided to exercise some strategic cropping on these shots thanks to some less than ideal lighting conditions.  That Bee you see above… well, it was a little farther away in the original shot.
Bee on flower taken at Biltmore Estate July 2014
Hit the jump to see a couple more pictures of this busy Bee

If you noticed the shadows, I was shooting in the early afternoon which was okay for unobstructed elements like the Bee and the flower bloom.  Unfortunately, those features eclipsed the falling light on the right side of the petals.  I also ended up not liking the state of the petals themselves although pleased with the overall coloring of the scene.  The Beast did a good job of throwing the background out of focus leaving a nicely compatible wall of textured color.  Looking through a few more shots I found the following where the Bee has a more interesting expression. Guessing it was trying to figure out why there were 5 large glass lenses pointed at it.
Bee on flower taken at Biltmore Estate July 2014
I’ll go ahead and bring it out a bit for you so you can see the original shot.  Still think the close shots are more interesting, but would love to hear your opinions.  Oh, just in case a certain wife tries to claim credit for ANOTHER one of my Bee pictures this set is clearly mine (hehehe)!  Should probably mention these shots were taken at the Biltmore Estates in Asheville, North Carolina.  They have some amazing flower gardens there if anyone enjoys being immersed in stunning color.
Bee on flower taken at Biltmore Estate July 2014
Just a quick one tonight.  We are technically in overtime with regards to my monthly blog quota which gives me some freedom.   These afterhours’ posts also allow me to clear out the backlog a bit and more importantly gives me a chance to break up the bird related posts. (also allows me to move into Linda’s realm as payback for all the nice bird pictures she has been putting up on Facebook as of late – this year’s UB competition is going to be very intriguing.

Happy Bee-lated Valentine’s Day everyone!

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2 comments on “Bee My Valentines

  1. Ron

    A bee picture–reminds me of Linda’s famous bee picture!

    I noticed the cute way at the end that you capitalized on posting late (“Bee-latedly”). I do prefer the cropped pictures, but as with processing dragonfly photographs I’m left feeling a little queasy by close-ups of these insects (except in Linda’s BEE picture!).

    I noticed that you did not actually identify the type of bee this is. Maybe it’s for the same reason I have problems with their names. When I was growing up, this would be called a Yellow-Jacket, period. You always had to be careful of Yellow-Jackets, and since there were flowering bushes at the end of our back yard, going through the fence there was always an adventure. The little cuter ones that flew between clovers were called Bumblebees. Nice and simple. Now up north here in Illinois I find that people call them exactly the opposite!! Drives me crazy, all these millions of people around me being so wrong. 🙂 I’m continually telling people that, of course.

    Ron

  2. admin

    Sigh – everything always comes back to Linda’s lucky shot.

    I forgot you were not a big fan of insects – having first learned about this when you wouldn’t turn to the Mantis month on our EddieSoft Gallery calendar. You might want to skip my posts on the late night outings on our porch with the Macro – those can get downright creepy.

    I’m with you, there is definitely a regional aspect to the bee names – your Chicago neighbors do seem to have their identification backwards. I’ve always called the large bees like this one a Bumblebee and the smaller ones that hang out in the clovers are Sweat Bees. I had to watch out for those since I would react badly to their stings (still freak out around those smaller ones to this day). Now I use the Yellow-Jacket name in the wasp family, but again, others refer to them as Hornets. I give up – how about we just go with Flying Dagger Butts.

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