I’m busy, busy, busy as a…well, yeah. Almost didn’t post one today, but I thought I might not have a chance for a hot minute. I don’t usually shoot bumblebees. Their dark fuzz and shiny, all black heads are hard to get details out of; I think that is evident in the head area of this shot. You could probably say the underside as well, but I think that has more to do with position of my (immobile) flash. The other reason I don’t shoot them is that they are common. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s good to revisit common subjects; there’s an opportunity to discover something new, something different. And it dawned on me that there is a third, more depressing reason: they might not be so common in the (near) future. There is a lot of discussion on honey bees and Colony Collapse Disorder, of which I don’t know much except that it seems a lot of people know less than they’re saying. While the honey bees grab the headlines other pollinators like native bumblebees are also at risk (note: I don’t know if the species pictured is native). I haven’t seen a Monarch butterfly all year; and that is, for me, a sobering personal reminder.

So moral of the story love ’em while you got ’em. And now I will continue the forward march. (Which includes a battle with my Spyder monitor calibrator. Boo. Hiss.)