Today after finishing a few tasks around our place I went for a walkabout in search the semi-perfect Hummingbird capture. Since that did not happen I went in search of a Monarch, Viceroy or Swallowtail butterfly capture. Strike Two! “Well now”, I said to me “just look about, breath in and something will come to you.” It did. I took the following within a few feet of each other and it blesses my to no end to see the diversity of pollinators on our place. Pollinators Rock!
Late Summer gives the pollinators on our place a lovely little feeding station called the White Wood Aster. Here is a skipper filling up for the days journeys.
I was going through the way-back files and found a picture I took last year with my point & shot Olympus SP-350. As I looked at it I was inspired to try a plugin by Topaz called Simplify 4 on it. Simplify 4 is a plugin that turns my pictures into art and I have tried it on two pictures and rather like it. The top one it the original unedited photo and the bottom one of a simple one click preset called Image Crispedge. There are adjustments you can use once the preset is applied but I like it well right out of the box. 
……but it does not mean something is no longer useful. An example I gleaned from nature is when a flower,bush or plants blooms fade they still provide something to the environment. Here is a Chicory bloom that has faded ,and is about join earth’s very successful recycle program, still proving fuel to a pollinator. So do not worry when beauty fades ones usefulness does not.
After observing Bumblebees the last few years I have made a couple of discoveries: One Bumblebees DO have tongues. I knew this in theory but till you take a picture of a Bumblebee with its tongue out you really do doubt it is so. Secondly is they feed off flower with blooms smaller than they are and they get the job done some how. Amazing pollinators and cool to watch as well.
As the storms approach I decided to take advantage of the cloud cover proceeding in to get a few shots in. I once again stubbornly grabbed my extension tubes and camera and went out to give it another try. Well I still am not getting it but in the process I may have taken my best-worse picture so far. This picture is of a Bumblebee face first in a Spotted Jewelweed. You can see it’s front legs holding onto the Jewelweed as one of it back legs seem to be searching for something to grip. Pretty cool stuff even if the shot was way under-exposed and grainy as all get out. I like it!
As a budget- restrained individual I try to buy the best I can afford but still not break the bank. I try always to buy local first but sometimes the cost difference does not allow it and I have to order stuff online. An exception is lenses for my camera. I have to try it out first and that dictates it must be local. Well after many attempts using craigslist , most have not been less than positive, I had my faith in youth, humanity and the ability to buy local on craigslist restored this evening in one fell swoop! The young man I contacted actually responded to my inquiry and followed through with what he said he would do. He was one time, that is something new, and was polite and the lenses were as advertised, something new as well. Since I did not get home in time to take a few pics tonight I had to look in the-way-back-files and find something to share. Here is one from last August, I think, taken with my Olympus SP-350 and that much I do actually know. So here is to something new and a little dew too!
I have several things going on at one time right now so my posts will be a little erratic and kind of random like. So in that spirit I present a random Butterfly.
I took a little walkabout of our place after the latest rain shower paused till the next wave arrives. I am glad we are getting what I hope will turn be a couple of days of gentle, consistent rain. As I walked along the side field I saw this Bumblebee hanging under the blooms of a plant as if seeking shelter from the rain.
Daffodil Hill Photography 