When I got home from work yesterday my wife showed me that we had a bee swarm on a tree in our yard. She thought they were looking to establish a new colony somewhere. It was amazing - about a cubic foot of bees. The PZ-1p was loaded with Supra 400, so I slipped on the Sigma 70-300 APO, ran it out to 300 mm. and switched it to macro mode (goes to 1:2). Then I proceeded to shoot from several feet away. It was already too dark for ISO 400, though, so off I ran to the nearest store (Walgreen's) and picked up some Superia 800. Back to shoot, but even still too dim for f5.6 (@ 300 mm.). After a few tripod shots, I got bold. Off came the Sigma and on went the FA 100 mm. f2.8 macro. We crept closer and closer and the bees never bothered either of us. They were completely absorbed in whatever they were doing. Shot a roll with the macro lens (1/125 @ f4) and called it a day.
This morning they were still there. As soon as the light got pretty good, another roll went through the 1p with the FA 100 going through its paces. Then off to leave off the film, and to work. Returning home this afternoon the bees are gone. What a privilege to have seen this phenomenon of nature. The mass of bees was constantly in motion. As I moved in with the macro, I could see that groups of them would form for a few seconds, and rub their antennae together (exchanging nectar or information, I don't know). Then the mass would swarm over them and the scene would be gone. But all the time new scenes were forming. I'll be biting my nails until I know that the negatives came out okay. If so, there'll certainly be at least one image posted to some future PUG. Maybe this is more common in other parts. But I live in New Mexico where even lizards struggle to survive. I felt like this was a once-in-a-lifetime shoot. Joe - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
