ColorChallenge - Sunday Purple - Lavender and Bees - Photography

Last Sunday, I ended up creating a "garden post" that focused on all the various purple flowers we have in our garden.

Golden honeybee on the lavender

As part of that post, I mentioned how our purple lavender was starting to bloom. Since then, we've had some warm and sunny days-- so now the lavender is truly in full bloom.

So I thought I'd enter a post in @kalemandra's photography #colorchallenge since today is "Sunday Purple," in the rotation. Incidentally-- for those who haven't spotted it yet, the colors of the color challenge correspond to the traditional colors associated with the Chakras in the human body.

Doing it a little bit differently, this week.

Part of the fun of having a garden with almost 100 lavender plants is that-- during flowering season-- they attract a vast array of bees, butterflies and other insects. So today, I wanted to make this photo-post not just about purple lavender, but also about various species of bees that visit us on a regular basis.

Both types of honeybees we get here

Photographing "busy bees" is not as easy as it might sound. First of all, they are constantly moving around from flower to flower, so half the photographs become of empty space. And just because I happen to get a bee (or two!) in the frame doesn't mean it necessarily stays in focus.

I shot about 300 images in order to get around a dozen or so "decent" photos, the best of which are in this post. Next to butterflies, I'd have to say that bees are among the trickiest insects to photograph.

As you can see, we have several species of bee.

Most common are the regular golden honeybees, but we also seem to get a less common dull brown honeybee. We also get a couple of types of bumblebees, but today I could only find one type out... the ones with the dark orange butts were conspicuously absent.

With respect to our lavender, it was originally planted as a surround for our labyrinth in 2012. Given how large and healthy the plants are today-- almost a low hedge-- it's hard to believe these were tiny plants in 4-inch pots when we got them!

And that's pretty much my "Sunday Purple" entry for today! I appreciate you indulging my photography interest.

If you're interested in some great photography from some of Steemit's finest, I also suggest checking out the supporting @colorchallenge page! There, you will also more explanatory posts about the challenge, as well as a number of resteems of participants' posts.

How about YOU? Have you ever participated any of the photography color challenges? Are you a nature photographer? Have you ever tried photographing nature's small creatures, like butterflies and bees? Leave a comment-- share your own experiences and feedback!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Posted 20170716 23:05 PDT