Some of the best photos happen because you have a camera with you when there's a great photo op. Sometimes the best photos happen because you make a plan, consider the light, and come at the right time and place to take the image.

This collection of images embodies both principles. After church a couple of Sundays ago, we had the camera gear in the car, so we stopped at this patch of blue lupine that we'd seen for a few weeks, everytime we'd driven past on our way to the church. The dew had funneled from the leaves of the lupine into these really pretty jewels that glittered throughout the flowers at the center of each clump of leaves - cameras couldn't do it justice. We took some quick photos since we didn't have much time, needing to get going to meet some friends for lunch. But we vowed to return! We came back around sunset to get some softer light, and were rewarded by capturing the couple of images of the bumble bees busy pollinating the flower patch.

This lead to some reading up on wikipedia about bumble bees, and I never knew that they're one of the few bees  that is strong enough to use sonic pulses to pollinate certain plants. Some of these are pretty important to us, such as potatoes and tomatoes, as well as blueberries and cranberries. Apparently without a strong enough bee, these plants have a much harder time pollinating/reproducing. Almost like the bee and the plants were designed to work together...:-) So next time you're enjoying some fries and ketchup, remember to thank God for bumble bees, who make it all possible!

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