Photographing Bees: A Photographic Tribute of Sorts to Hive's Busy Bees!

It has been warm and sunny around these parts... which is a welcome change!

Our lavender bushes are now in full bloom, and we have been harvesting and sending lavender all over the country.

We're not the only ones who are happy — when the afternoon sun hits its peak the lavender area in the backyard is abuzz with bees... both honeybees and bumblebees.

0086Bee2.jpg

Photographing bees is tough!

If you've ever watched — I mean really watched — bees, you'll now that they are always in motion. As a photographer, that means that a bee that was in focus 1/10th of a second ago is probably three flowers over by now.

0086Bee5.jpg

Of course, bees are best photographed on warm sunny afternoons — that's when they tend to be most plentiful.

The downside is that when it gets warm and there are lots of flowers, they tend to get agitated (not in a negative way!), meaning that they buzz about even faster than normal.

0086Bee1.jpg

The Bumbles are a little easier to shoot because they tend to move slower... BUT the warmth makes them "shake," meaning that they often appear out of focus.

I only got a few reasonable shots of them, today.

Funny that — scientifically speaking — bumblebees technically speaking shouldn't be able to fly, at all. The weight to wing surface to muscle ratio is evidently all wrong.

And yet? They fly...

0086BeeBumble2.jpg

Watching the bees and the lavender for several hours reminded me of something I once heard said about social media:

There tend to be two very general approaches out there: You are either a "bee," or a "flower."

0086Bee3.jpg

"Bees" are those people who flit around from one thing to the next, visiting seemingly impossibly many venues and leaving their little packets of "I was here!" wherever they go.

"Flowers" are those people who work hard to create a highly attractive "home base" that others go out of their way to visit. They don't "get out" that much; all their energy goes into drawing others to them.

0086BeeBumble.jpg

Of course, most of us use some combination of both approaches... but all other things being equal, we're likely to prefer one or the other.

So when I look around here in our own Hive, it's relatively easy to spot those who eternally visiting others and tirelessly curating... but they are not necessarily the content posters.

0086Bee4.jpg

Then there are those create some of our best and most appealing content... but they aren't necessarily the primary engagers.

I sort of get that. It can be a full-time job just to curate and respond to the comments on your own posts...

And there you have it!

I realize this isn't exactly my "usual fare" here... but mixing it up a little now and then is a good thing... I think.

Thanks for reading, and I hope your weekend was a good one!

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

PHC Logo

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 20200727 00:56 PDT

0086/1314



0
0
0.000
11 comments
avatar

Thanks for sharing your creative and inspirational post on HIVE!



This post got curated by our fellow curator @hafizullah and you received a 100% upvote from our non-profit curation service!

Join the official DIYHub community on HIVE and show us more of your amazing work!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks for the support! I appreciate it!

0
0
0.000
avatar

I would take issue with your 'bee perspective', sir!

How do you know they're happy when the sun comes out, going off to to work?

I have it on very good authority that they love nothing more than staying in their hives, sucking on a bit of honey.
Many of them are refusing to go get pollen, and are waiting for their government check, apparently.

0
0
0.000
avatar

So if I'm hearing you correctly here, what you're suggesting is that bees are communists? I suppose I should have figured that out, considering that they do live in a "commune," of sorts...

Win some, lose some...

0
0
0.000
avatar

That is the crux of it exactly. Given the finite time we have, I find it hard to create content, answer comments, support my usual supporters, and go out to support new folks as well. Yet, I do enjoy doing each of those activities. So I have come to the point where I do not stress over any of it. I do the best I can, and that has got to be good enough.

0
0
0.000
avatar

That's the thing, isn't it? If we try to do everything, it can become all-consuming... and that doesn't really work for me as I am not (a) retired or (b) independently wealthy...

0
0
0.000
avatar

Exactly! I am not sure where I fit in, or even if I do. I have a challenge called Market Friday and there are so many posted to the challenge that it takes me a long time to properly answer all of them. I do my own posts and try to get out others because I feel guilt-ridden because I don't do enough of that. I don't think I found the balance yet and I'm not sure what the answer is.

!tip

0
0
0.000
avatar

I'm not entirely sure what the balance is, either. I've tried to be pretty consistent in the course of my 3 1/2 years here, but much of the time I simply don't have the time" for Hive. Which is a shame, because I really do enjoy the people and interaction here. But simply keeping life afloat in the functional sense outside anything web related eats most of my bandwidth...

0
0
0.000