morning beekeeping

happy solstice! summer is finally here and I'm humming with joy and warmth. between developing and prepping film prints for a show, shooting for work, and editing old work, it's been a boring summer so far for personal work. but! about two months back I stumbled upon a local beekeeper's website where he mentioned he was interested in some photographic services from anyone "brave enough to suit up." hey! I'm brave as heck! and I love bees! two weeks back we teamed up and made some killer bee shots together(I look like a 5 year old in the ridiculously oversized bee suit, sorry no pics). I didn't even wear gloves and I got right up in those little bee faces without any issues! how cool! hopefully this will be a continuing relationship, so look for more bees here in the future and give my pal Andy some facebook love if you like that kind of stuff.

andy's been keeping bees as a serious hobby for about six years, picked up from his father

 little male bee, a drone. stinger-less and able to be held

andy tries to keep his operation as natural as possible! he smokes out his bees with recycled burlap

right: queen bee

memorial day garden stocking

on memorial day I had a portrait session at a local greenhouse with a veteran who wanted recent shots in uniform. being only a short drive from my house, and me being a plant enthusiast, I'm surprised I've never visited this place. although pork and I tried to start as much as possible from organic seed this year, we had a few holes to fill.

this greenhouse was beautiful and expansive and full of so many plants I badly needed. rows upon rows or hanging plants, growing flats, and encouraging little pots-- a place I literally got lost in. the portraits took less than thirty minutes, but I spent another two hours browsing and buying and barely scratching the surface of what they had to offer

we walked out with an abundance of kale, a curly curry plant, a few peppers, rosemary, thyme, a discounted struggling aloe(which looked twenty times better after I put it in proper dirt), and a little mint bush of the kentucky variety. a fruitful day, for certain