I was up in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales last weekend. Ostensibly I was there to look after my father, who is ill, whilst his partner was in Sydney … but while he was sleeping I had the opportunity to wander about in the garden. They have an absolute profusion of lavender. I’ve never been able to successfully grow lavender; you know back in those times I used to live in houses with gardens 😉 but here it’s verging upon riotous. There are of course bees.

I love chasing bees and other critters around a garden and it’s not something I’ve done in ages. I wonder if it’s because living in a flat for the past couple of years I haven’t had ready access to a garden? You know, the kind you can stride out into in your pyjamas any morning of the year… I know you know 🙂

Anyways, back to the bees. It’s a game of patience capturing critters in the garden. Firstly, you need to be able to spot them and in the case of the bees this wasn’t overly difficult! Then you need to get close enough to them. Funny thing, the closer you get, the more they seem to move around … well, through the viewfinder as you’re wishing they’s just remain in that position for perhaps three seconds instead of two whilst attempting to focus on them. I know I could have gone and set up the tripod but I was feeling kinda lazy… these were shot handheld using my Nikkor 105 Macro. The vibration reduction (VR) certainly assists with handheld macro photography which is one of the main reasons I upgraded my macro setup from the Tamron 90mm I started out with.

Beautiful bees in the lavender. They look all furry and pettable don’t you think?

Privacy Preference Center