Photograph of the Month: Busy Bee

A honey bee searching for nectar in a spearmint blossom

Two years ago I began sending out these screen savers to my clients on a monthly basis, these are my “Photograph of the Month.” They are sized and formatted as a screen saver or computer desktop wallpaper. I suggest my clients share them with their family and friends, with my compliments.

It is a marketing device, and an effective one because my name, phone number and website address are on each and every one of the images. My website traffic usually spikes for a few days after I send them out. It allows me to maintain a high level of visibility with my clients even when we aren’t working on a job much like the calendars of years passed.

Giving people a pretty picture for their screen saver is a nice thing to do. I enjoy doing it because it brightens the day for people who might otherwise not have the chance to get away from the computer. And sometimes shooting these images is the only way I can get away from the office.

I knew I wanted to include these photographs here on my blog and may use this as my distribution vehicle rather than clogging up people “in” boxes and to discover how many of the people on my mailing list are no longer interested in receiving them. But, I knew I had to limit how many I post here prior to official roll-out of the blog because I want new images on the blog, rather than old ones. So i picked five or the most recent images that received the highest praise.

All images in my “Photograph of the Month” series are sized and formatted as a screen saver or computer desktop wallpaper. Please share it with your family and friends, with my compliments.

Last year we planted spearmint in a bare and desiccated patch of dirt in our back yard. We were delighted to find that it not only survived the brutal conditions being on the south side of the house, exposed to direct sunlight all day long as well as the and heat light reflected from the house, but thrived. We were also delighted to find that the local bees seemed to adore the spearmint nectar.

One day I sat down in the sun with my close-up lens determined to get a great shot of a bee. It was very hot and uncomfortable. There were times I was unable to see due to the perspiration stream into my eyes, but I kept at it and after an hour or two I had gotten the hang of focusing on the bees by rocking my head back and forth rather than attempting to adjust the focus of the camera. I am very pleased with the results of the effort. I never realized how furry bees really were until now.