“Ugly or beautiful, it is the little creatures that make the world go round. We should celebrate and appreciated them in all their wonderful diversity.” 
― Dave Goulson

Inevitably, if you make enough images of flowers outdoors, nature dictates that a bug will be in one of those images. That was the case last weekend, as I was photographing the many beautiful hepaticas that had just started blooming. Just as I was about to hit the shutter release, this bug, a blister beetle, I believe, landed on the flower.

Rather that wave it off or wait for it to leave, I decided to incorporate it into my shot. I think it adds a natural element and makes the image more ‘real’ and less static.

As I looked around, after the shot, I noticed that many of the hepaticas had some form of insect on them. Some, like the first honey-bee I saw, are pollinators of these early bloomers, which provide an  critical source of early nutrition for the bees, while others are simply looking for a meal, which I suspect is the beetle’s role here. Despite that, if you look very carefully, there is pollen stuck to this beetle too, so the plant wins after all. Everything has its role to play in nature’s cycles.

Nikon D800
Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 (272ENII)@90mmm
1/160 sec, f/16.0, ISO 100

For more images like this, please visit my website (images are available for purchase)
http://www.edlehming.com