Peek-a-Boo, the bumblebee and the wildflower

Another short post from my walk last weekend around Town & Country park. I had just finished talking to a wonderful lady named Deanna about Mikael Behrens and his Birding on Broadmeade weblog, and was continuing down the trail, when I saw a large bumblebee land behind a large yellow wildflower.




I got the camera ready, and slowly crept up to the flower as close as I could get without scaring the insect away, and waited for it to come around to the face of the flower. It took a few minutes for the bee to move around to the front, but eventually it did, and I have the photo to prove it!

This weekend I will get some photos of the Texas Wildlife Expo up. I hope you will enjoy them.

Best regards,
Mike Z

The Fire Within -- Morning Glories on my Walk

As I walked around the neighborhood yesterday, I passed a mailbox with morning glory vines climbing and blooming all around it. I just had to try a few shots to see what kinds of shots I could get. These two beauties were the best of the lot.

After looking at lots of photos on Flickr Group sites like Flower Pictures (No Limits) and others, I wanted to try my hand at producing some abstract images from the original photos. I really admire some of the macro and close-up shots that I have seen in the groups. I hope that you will enjoy these attempts at "photo art."

UPDATE 10/9/08: In the April 2008 Outdoor Photography magazine on page 54 there is a macro photo of a morning glory by John Isaac, a famous United Nations and nature-wildlife photographer, that is very similar to my image above . His colors are darker than mine, and there is a well placed shadow in the yellow center area of the flower, but essentially it's the same photo! I guess I was channeling Mr. Isaac when I cropped the shot, or maybe great minds just think alike!

This arbor in the image below was not the place I got the macro images. It was in someone's back yard. I would not have noticed it except that one of their fence boards had come loose (they have a dog, that might be the reason), and I could get the lens in between the boards for the shot. The fence itself made a good support for the camera.

I know this one's short, but I want you to know I will have more posts up in coming days. More photos of flowers and bumblebees, and some of our outing yesterday to Texas Wildlife Expo in South Austin. Very interesting, and the kids had a good time! Also pretty crowded. I am glad they have it now instead of August!

Best regards,
Mike Z