hotshoehq

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|Honey Suckle|

Taken in my backyard

Camera: Nikon B500

These honey suckles was found in my backyard, once again lol. Nothin like mid spring and the taste of these, good still subjects too.

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|Multiflora Rosa|

Taken in my backyard

Camera: Nikon B500

These “briar flowers” as they’re colloquially known are actually roses, Japanese ones to be exact. Went for a more shadowy look on these :)

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|Northern Cardinal Feather|

Taken in my yard

Camera: Nikon B500

Tried some new ways of editing in Lightroom to bring more texture and vibrancy to my image :). Next time I might tone it down a little lol, but I loved shooting this feather it was so cute

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|Squash Bug|

Taken in my yard

Camera: Nikon B500

This lil squash bug and his buddies loved hanging out in this tree! There were lots of them when I took this. This one was trying to hide, snapped him anyway :>

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|Honey Bee on Aster|

Taken in my yard

Camera: Nikon B500

This honey bee wouldn’t stop moving so it’s the best I could get. The aster itself is beautiful in the late summer/early fall. The variation in color really pops here

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|Cloudless Sulphur|

Taken in my yard

Camera: Nikon B500

The cloudless sulphur often feeds on “hummingbird flowers”, typically tubular red flowers. In this case it’s a wax mallow! Their proboscus is unusually long to be able to take advantage of the food source. Fun fact! The caterpillars of this species change color based on whether they eat more leaves or flowers :)

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|Eastern Carpenter Bee|

Taken in my yard

Camera: Nikon B500

Another round of eastern carpenter bees, and their Old-Man-Bald-Spots™ . The quality of these photos is what happens when a transition camera from 2014 gets enough light and the subject is still for 30+ seconds, near perfection. This is almost the maximum I can make this camera achieve, clarity wise. The eastern carpenter bees have always been a favorite of mine to shoot as well. They so fluffy and cute!!

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|Eastern Carpenrer Bee|

Taken in my yard

Camera: iPhone 14

Another eastern carpenter bee, it’s Old-Man-Bald-Spot™ is very prominent once again! This one was spotted just as the sun started going down, around 5:30 or so. The golden hour helps photographing bees a lot. This is because the light passes through their wings adding a glowy effect; the intense orange from their wings and bodies allow for my dinky iphone camera to focus more easily! I’m gonna name this one epic destroyer face 9000 R.I.P. epic destroyer face 9000!!!

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|Great Horned Owl|

Taken at chimney rock, before the storm

Camera: Nikon B500

The great horned owl is a great subject, barely moves except swiveling its head. The Nikon B500 only has 16 megapixels, but with enough light and stillness, it can definitely capture some extreme detail. The prominent black rachis (feather “stem”) pop against his soft afterfeather. Someone tell me if the coloration on his beak is normal, he was captive and I’m curious!

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|Eastern Carpenter Bee|

Taken in my yard

Camera: Nikon B500

These eastern carpenter bees are easily identifiable by the Little-Old-Man-Bald-Patch™ on their thorax! They are super prominent in the south during summer and spring and they usually allow me to get close. I’ve never been stung while shooting them and if I do, well, time for a different kind of shooting 👁️👁️…. With gloves!! Also I think the plant is called scaldweed :>

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|Transmission Tower|

Taken on the road

Camera: Nikon N65

Film: lomography earl/lady grey 35mm

These are always fun to take pics of. I particularly enjoy when they are placed in more natural locations as they highlight the ecological damage they can cause. This one was in a fieald beside a road, sun blaring down.

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|Orb Weaver and Webs|

Taken in my backyard

Camera: Nikon N65

Film: Lomography Turquoise 35mm

In the fall my yard is a host to dozens of orb weavers, it’s only fitting I shoot them in special film. This turquoise film is beautiful and I’ll be posting more of it! :)

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She gyre on my dude till I falcon

whatever, dude. not my falcon, not my gyre

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|Northern Cardinal

Taken on the road heading away from Maggie valley

Camera: Nikon B500

This dude was hanging out squawking away and I snapped him mid squawk. He’s real scruffy looking because he’s a juvenile male still coming into his vermillion glory. A mouthy teenager, if you will.

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|Meerkat|

Taken at the riverbanks zoo and garden

Camera: Nikon B500

Look at how damned cute this lil guy is, very still for me as well lol

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|Rainbow Lorikeet|

Taken at the riverbanks zoo and garden

Camera: Nikon B500

This little guy along with others played around my arms and hands and I got to feed them cups of nectar. Although not endangered and classified as least concern, these lorikeets numbers are dropping steadily. That’s why it’s a privilege to have this photo for the future :)

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|Maps and Life and death and love|

Every inch of skin disappears under the cloth I hold a vigil in my soul for my mourning For my yearning there is no retribution for the temporary shattering for which I so miss and the topography of our bodies meet in the bend of a riverbed and I take the shape of your weathered rocks marked by my hands and I take pieces of your silt with me there is a tribute for the never-ending togetherness of my shape against yours

within me there lay with you a cold and calmness of stone as my waters supinate to you your earthen curves widening against the weathering of my current and when I take leave of this earth my source becoming no more and your bed of stone lay barren and dry beneath me our re-birthed selves shall take of this earth and make new a monument long since left behind cleansing its prescense with theirs and staining it anew