Sometimes I look at the screen of my camera and I cannot believe I managed to get the shot. Sometimes I look and there is nothing. More often than not, there is nothing or it is blurred. Sometimes things happen so fast you cannot look, so you hope and pray that you got the shot.

I went downstairs to my garden to photograph some birds I heard. But then I saw a Carpenter bee (Xylocopa caffra) and I tried my luck. They fly in very distinct patterns, so photographing them is not that hard. They return to a single spot in the air, probably zooming in on a specific flower. But this gives me the opportunity to get that shot!

The old Nikon D300 I have is still working. I think it is on its last legs, but I do not have the money to upgrade now. My laptop is also on its last legs, and with my Ph.D. research being more important, I need to replace the laptop first before I get a new camera.

In any case, please enjoy the series of photographs of this stunning bee that visits my garden every spring and summer!

Carpenter Bee

Postscriptim, or Bee Butt

Bee butts are so cute. Especially on the fuzzy bees. But enough of bee butts, I want to reminisce about slowing down, after reading some posts on slowing down.

The image is a still, still image. Time is slowed down to such an extent that the bee's wings don't move anymore. Captured. Still. Slowed down.

The moment is now forever moving yet still. I can ponder and reflect on the moment. I can slow down.

How many other moments in life do I not want to slow down, capture, and reflect on? A first kiss, the ending of a novel you fell in love with, the feeling of biting into food when you are really hungry, love, and so on. All of these things are fleeting, moving with the speed of light, forever gone. You cannot go back, you can only think about it from the present moment. And with each passing second, the reflection becomes more abstract, ruined by the infinite present.

Alas, we cannot capture every moment with a photograph or a note, some moments are forever lost to the past. And that is life, and that is beautiful. Life is fleeting, we just need to capture every moment we are given by living to the fullest.

All of the photographs are my own, taken with my old Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm Zoom lens. All of the musings are also my own. I hope you enjoyed this post. Stay safe, and happy photographing!