Exit, Stage Left! Azalea Plant

by Kat
(Clayton, NC)

I was planting some small azalea bushes at my house and was interrupted by a visitor - a jumbo-jet sized bumble bee! Since I wanted to give him a little time and space to explore, I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures with the digital camera. As we have all learned, your average digital camera has a shutter delay, and between the time the auto-focus kicked in and the shutter tripped, the bee bumbled off and I instinctively moved to follow. What the camera caught was a) no bee! and 2) the flowers the bee had been attracted to (and which were in the sharpest focal range) shifted off to the right.

I don't know why, but I just love this pic. The focus is there, but not where you expect it. It has a real 3-dimensional feel to it, but also a day-dreaming feel as well. You know you should be looking at the "in-focus" flowers, but your eyes keep getting drawn to the middle of the shot. Don't know if it will translate to a commercially viable canvas, but thought I'd share none-the-less. Sometimes the best things are the unexpected ones.

Thanks! Absolutely fascinating site!

***Editor***

Hi Kat, thanks for the contribution and the story behind it. I'll keep a look out for the bee here in my garden and will post a pic when I see him!