Recently I was blessed to participate in a gathering of likeminded men who gathered in southern Brasil for a time of fellowship and encouragement. We were hosted on a large campus of a Christian establishment and during free time had the run of the place. We were surrounded by beautifully kept grounds with trees, shrubs and diverse flowering plants. The birds called, the bugs busily buzzed and it was a WONDERFUL break from my usual urban existence. And of course I took along a camera. In this case I grabbed the Olympus OM-D E-M1 as it has excellent battery life and has a very nice macro lens, as well as working well with manual lenses. So the E-M1 made the trip along with the Olympus 60mm Macro lens and my Dad’s old Konica Hexanon 40mm 1.8 in a Fotasy KR-M43 adapter.
While wandering around the place I noticed a lot of bee activity. They were busy gathering nectar and pollen from the multitudinous flowering plants. They are busy little critters and getting them in focus can be a challenge with older gear such as I was using. BUT, sometimes you get the shot. Here are two I managed to capture. The first with the Konica Hexanon AR 40mm F1.8 and the second with the Olympus 60mm Macro lens.
Stingless Bee – Gathering pollen
This next image is the last picture I captured, taken on the last evening of our stay. The sky was gorgeous, but my cell phone simply would NOT capture the vivid hues of the sky as the sun continued its journey towards the west. Thankfully I had the E-M1 at hand and although the 60mm is not exactly a “landscape lens”, it did a creditable job and the colors in the electronic viewfinder matched beautifully with what my eyes perceived. It was indeed a blessed time, and this sunset was a fitting way to end my week of photographic endeavors.
