Saturday, August 18, 2012

The amazing world of the small...bees, fungus & flowers

I have a fantastic new camera.

About a year ago, my trusty snapshot camera stopped working properly.
When I looked through the viewfinder, the picture was purple and really wavy when it focused on a subject.
After 7 years of fantastic service, the sensor had stopped working.
For a digital anything, it was absolutly ancient, but I loved it. I knew it's capabilities.
I was bummed.

My husband found a new camera rather quickly online.
He found a great buy on an Olympus 7030 - it was a close-out model so it was a really great buy.
(My husband is a fantastic shopper - he finds all my toys at the absolute best prices.)
I wasn't sure about this turn of events; I had no experience with Olympus cameras.

I'd been using Canon cameras exclusively since 2000. (Both my DSLR & snapshot cameras were made by Canon and used the same controls. And I was familiar with the controls!)

And my new camera was so tiny and insubstantial - it was a small, thin snapshot camera with online menus instead of the familiar knobs on my other camera.
I really didn't think I'd like the resulting too much.
My new camera did have one thing going for it - it was purple.
I was wrong about my new camera. I love it! And it's even better than my old A70.
It's perfectly sized and fits in my pocket with room to spare. It has a large viewing screen which allows me to frame my shots easily. Gone are the days of looking into the viewfinder with one eye while closing the other. (Wish my DSLR had this feature.)
And I can shoot movies too, just like my old camera. 

The feature I love best on my new camera is the macro lens setting.
I am able to get amazing close-ups of flowers, bugs and just about anything tiny.
The only drawback to this camera is the long recovery time between shots. Otherwise, it's an amazing camera!
I'm taking the most amazing photos of flowers and other small plants now.
Last weekend, I went hiking in the oak forest behind a friends house in Molalla.
It was a hot, dusty day. I welcomed the shade.
Light-striped bee on thistle blossom.

I've been trying to photograph bees ever since I picked up a camera at age 12.
Now I have an amazing tool that allows me to photograph these amazing insects while they go about their business collecting nectar and pollen.
I never knew that bees have fur coats.
This bee seems to be articulated. And she doesn't have dark black stripes on her body either.
Here's a dark-striped bee heading towards the same flower already occupied by a light-striped bee. They eventually decided to share the blossom.