white wood aster – Daffodil Hill Photography

A Wasp in Macro

I took this last September with my new-to-me-then extension tubes. This is an unedited shot of a wasp feeding among a growth of Wood Asters.

The Winter here is not as bad as those with tons of snow but at least you have the opportunity for some great shots. Us here in the Heartland have had gray, more gray and well gray days. For those who are having the same I searched out this macro, all bright and sunshiny.

I Am A Fly Not A Bee

Not a very catchy post title but the truth none the less.I have taken a few shots of the Hoverfly in the past but never knew what they were exactly. I found them almost exclusively flying around or feeding of flowers. It turns out the Hoverfly feeds on nectar, is a pollinator and an important player in controlling the aphids. They also can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Or simply put , I am a fly not a bee, though a very important fly indeed!

One Of Natures Short Timers

I was wrapping up the install of the CV axle on my ride and felt the Sun falling fast towards the tomorrow. I remembered a small group of Wood Asters I had spied returning from the vet with my second oldest cat Dainty Dot Queen of the World. The vet treated her for a kidney infection and we hope for a positive outcome but at 15 years old we will have to see. So I took a short break to capture them before the next frost or two gets them. It was enjoyable to just breath in and enjoy the day a little because like these flowers we never know what tomorrow holds. Besides with the universe as our backdrop we all are short timers so enjoy what you have and take a moment to be thankful for even the littlest of things.

Down Time Part 2

I was enjoying my down time yesterday I did find my ability to get a decent macro somewhat frustrating. But with my companion Butterfly and a backup camera, my Canon Powershot SX10is, it really was not problematic. One thing in hindsight is bees are not great posers. They are well busy you know and cannot be bothered with the paparazzi. I was able to get a few decent shots at the long end of the zoom on the Canon of a couple of wasps, my companion Butterfly and one of the views from my court side seat to nature yesterday.

Down Time

I took about an hour or so of this amazing day for a little down time. I have a Olympus SP-350 I bought online for around $7-8 plus shipping. It was an amazing camera in its day and I have tried to get the most out of it on macro for a while now. As an everyday shooter it is very nice but I have had trouble using the macro since the camera has zero anti-vibration capabilities, well that I can find anyway. And since there was not manual, well I just took off free of such clutter….and knowledge to do as I please with the little bugger! So here are three macro I took today using it. I set up a lawn chair, with my outside cat Butterfly as my helper and went about waiting on that perfect shot……since that didn’t happen you get these instead ;).

For reference as to how small the Wood Aster flower is I used a AA battery to give you a visual reference as to these size. I did this for two reasons: One is to show you how small some pollinators are and two if I can get a good shot of the Bumblebees and the red wasps that feed on them as well. Cool stuff!

A Wasp At Dusk

Late Summer Feeding Stations

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.

An Early Autumn Find

As I was perusing my-way-back files for a worthy capture for the day I came across this one. I took it with my Olympus SP-350 in early Autumn. You remember back when the sun was making daily appearances, quite unlike this late Fall fun known as the gray days of Fall around here. And the pollinators were drinking in the last of natures harvest before it beds down till Spring. So I share with you an early Autumn find!