Frozen in flight: honey bee
Congratulations Alan Small for taking our AG Reader Photo of the week, showing a European honey bee (Apis mellifera) hovering near a flower – assessing the best place to land in order to collect the most pollen!
“Nature photography of any kind presents special challenges and generally speaking the smaller the subject, the more difficult it can be in terms of lighting, shutter speed, depth of field, background, and the critical moment that the exposure is made,” says Alan.
“All of these things apply to photographing bees (plus the possibility of being stung); they are totally focused on the job at hand and as superb flyers they move quickly in all directions as they search for the next suitable source of nectar and pollen. To capture an image like the one illustrated requires a great deal of patience and pre-planning.
“As a dedicated photographer from the age of seven, I don’t specialise in any particular branch of photography – I believe the world around us is there to be recorded in a special way, however nature probably delivers the greatest rewards notwithstanding the high degree of failures that lead to success. But that’s true of all high level human endeavours. Note that the pollen in this case is not yellow, but is stained blue by this particular flower.”
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