Cleared For Landing

Our relationship may have started off a little rocky, but over the years, the humble bumblebee has become my favourite member of the insect world.  We grow sunflowers in our yard and they were very late to bloom this year.  They are exploding at the moment and their arrival has marked the return of my fuzzy winged buddies.  Since we've been growing the sunflowers, I have been trying to capture a shot of a flying bee with his wings wide open.  It has proven to be a little more difficult than I though, but after lots of practice and experimentation, I though that I had finally found the right combination of shutter speed and focal length.  I took a seat near the flowers and waited.  After a little while, my little buddy arrived.  We chatted for a little bit and I kindly asked if he could hover a little bit near one of the flowers for me, and he happily obliged.  Yes, I talk to the bees.  You need to talk to someone when you're sitting alone in the yard.  He hovered, I snapped and then I let out an excited yelp when I saw that I had finally gotten the shot that I wanted. The photograph was taken at f/7.1, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 200mm.  I just love seeing those wings and all of the pollen all over his fuzzy behind.  Glorious.