April 17, 2025

And here she is: the African Honey Bee. Known in the USA as the African Killer Bee (they’re a lot more venomous than European or American honey bees. You do not want to piss off a swarm of them). I came so close to nailing focus on this one. Insect photography is hard.

April 17, 2025

April 17, 2025

I think this is a bee of some kind. I’m not sure how many South Africans realise we have many different kinds of bees besides honey bees.

April 17, 2025

April 17, 2025

Doing a bit of close-up photography with flash for the first time really. I had more ambitious plans which fell apart but this on-camera flash with a tiny soft box was actually a great introduction. ISO and aperture darkened the ambient light so that the flash did most of the work isolating these flowers against darkness. Kirstenbosch naturally an ideal place to experiment.

April 17, 2025