The mountain laurels bloom kind of early around here and I wanted to get a few close ups before they faded away. I also wanted an excuse to play with my macro lens. My first shots were just before the buds began opening. It was a sunny and breezy morning, which means I had plenty of light for the close up, but it was difficult to get the buds to stay still long enough to get a shot in focus.

As you can see, the focus depth is razor thin and the slightest movement of the subject or the photographer moves the subject out of focus. The above were some that I managed to keep in focus.

What followed was three days of rain and clouds, but when it cleared I went out again to try to get few fresh blooms in the morning sun. Some of the flowers had bloomed and some hadn’t, but I found some little bugs to shoot. It was again very windy with plenty of morning sunlight.

This being a manual lens, I had to attempt to get focus, watch the focus indicator, wait for the breeze to die down and shoot. The bugs seemed to enjoy the sunlight, which made them easier to photograph.

Apparently these bugs are called cucumber beetles and they are reviled by gardeners for while they are as cute as ladybugs, they are harmful to flower buds. That may explain why these guys were all over my mountain laurel flower buds.

Some of the blooms were out in the morning sun and I got a few close ups this year. These are the first real close ups that I gotten of the flowers on my mountain laurel and it may be my last. It doesn’t bloom for long each year and I have never really managed to catch it at a good time.

Thanks for reading.