Coming In for a Landing

Coming in for a landing! Straight down.I love catching insects in mid air.

Bees were ready for these first flowers including this enterprising honey bee. Yesterday was a little breezy and these tiny flowers quivered as the wind passed. The bees were bizzy and moving fast, sometimes too fast from flower to flower or clump to clump for me to follow with my zoom lens, which is also not very fast. I was also in a little hollow in the woods and even though the trees are still bare the light is just a little dimmer down there. I set my ISO at 3200 for the most light into my lens and let the camera work out the rest because I didn’t really have the time to make adjustments, the bees were moving so fast. I really didn’t know exactly what I’d caught or how well until after they’d moved on a bit and I reviewed my photos. I captured a few other good ones too.

I also, finally, took the time to do a little en plein air, “in the open air” in French; many artists of all eras studied and practiced in France where painting live outdoors was not only popular but possible for much of the year though paintings were often finished in studio. I enjoy it because it feels more direct in capturing the scene when I’m enjoying a full sensory experience of the light and temperature and wind and sound. I also make decisions regarding composition, lighting and color differently when sketching or painting outdoors because I don’t have the time to study a reference photo for days, weeks, even years, I have to look at this scene and compose what inspires me before the light changes too much.

I took today’s photo after I was done with my little painting and I was tempted to also paint those flowers in the leaf litter called Spring Beauty, and maybe even a bee. But work called me and I’d played hooky long enough. Here is my painting, “Spring on the Rocks” and click on the image to read more about it.

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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, visit my galleries of Photography on Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “Custom Prints” for availability and terms. I'll be more than happy to make a print for you.