I love this time of year in Atlanta. While I’m not too fond of the 95 degree heat, I love knowing that we will see hummingbirds regularly starting in July. I put our hummingbird feeders out in early July this year and it paid off.. with one visiting hummingbird. After that initial hummingbird visit, I didn’t see another hummingbird for almost three weeks. This last week however, they’ve been visiting like they own our front porch and I love it! Yesterday, I had a stand off with a hummingbird or maybe it was telling me thank you for the food. I don’t know but it was a little freaky having a hummingbird hovering about 2 feet in front of my face for good 30-45 seconds.
I majored in photography during my first two years of college and seeing as how I went to college 15 years ago and haven’t pursued photography as a career, I have forgotten 95% of what I learned. I’ve held onto my love of nature photography though. Hummingbirds are so fast and tiny making it a challenge to photograph them. You could say I like the chase. I don’t have to chase my kids down to photograph them. I just say “freeze!” or “you’re not getting dinner if you don’t let me photograph you in that outfit” and they’re game. Hummingbirds are an entirely different story. I find myself sitting on the front porch stalking them. I am not one to get excited about much so thank you little hummingbirds for providing me with some happy excitement for a few months a year!
What’s your favorite thing to photograph? Your kids, birds, flowers, buildings? Please share in the comments below.
Go outside and take a good look at the trees in your backyard or local park. Trees at this time of year can be very dramatic. Focus on how the bark looks and feels on different trees. Look up and notice how the branches are silhouetted against the sky. If you’re feeling creative, get out a camera and photograph tree silhouettes at different times of the day or from different angles.
