Seven Bends State Park

Early Spring Virginia Bluebells /  by Todd Henson

A small cluster of Virginia bluebells

Near the end of March my father and I visited Seven Bends State Park on what turned out to be a very windy day. But thankfully with a little help from ridge lines that lead down to the river and block some of the wind and the periodic lulls I was able to find and photograph some of the early blooming Virginia bluebells. At that time it was still early in the season and many of the flowers had yet to bloom, showing beautiful pinks that will eventually change to the characteristic blues.

Before Virginia bluebells fully open they are pink in color

For me, flower photography can be a challenge, trying to find an interesting view or angle, something just a little different from the norm. I can’t say I achieved that here, but I did seek out views I may not have photographed before. I hope you enjoy them.

High key closeup of Virginia bluebells

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Mining Bee in Its Nest /  by Todd Henson

A first view of a mining bee in its nest in the ground

Mining bees are interesting little creatures. I’ve seen them in several locations. If you find them at the right time, in early spring, you may see dozens or hundreds of little holes in the ground, possibly with little mounds of dirt around them, and bees flying just above the holes. Each hole is the nest of a single mining bee. It will collect pollen and nectar and store that in a chamber in the underground nest, and it will lay an egg there. Thankfully, mining bees are not at all aggressive and the most difficult thing about them can be trying not to step on the bees or their nests when they happen to dig in the dirt of the park trail.

A closer shaded view of the mining bee in its nest

These photos show one of a large number of mining bees we found in Seven Bends State Park in Virginia on April 2nd of 2023, right on the trail. The first photo above was created in full sunlight. For the rest I shaded the nest to even out the light and shadows.

The two photos above are normal photos. But the two photos below are focus stacked, which means I took several photos of the same scene with the focus shifted just a little. I then use Adobe Photoshop to stack them together, allowing it to pick the areas most in focus from each photo. The end result, hopefully, is an image with more of the subject or scene in focus. As you can see, though, when the subject moves it can affect the focus stack. Someone with more Photoshop skills might be able to mitigate this problem, though I did find it a fascinating way of seeing the small movements of the bee while watching me from its nest.

A focus stacked view of the mining bee in its nest, attempting to capture more of the bee in focus

A focus stacked closeup of the mining bee in its nest. Notice how the antennae moved resulting in ghosted images of them.

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A Brief Stop at Seven Bends in Autumn /  by Todd Henson

A field at Seven Bends State Park

A few weeks back in mid-October my father and I went for a drive and made a short stop by Seven Bends State Park in Virginia. While there I created a few photos that showed some of the subtle color ranges foliage takes on during autumn in this region. It was a very nice day and a great one for a drive.

A little fall color at Seven Bends

If you notice any slight differences in color between images it may be due to my use of physical lens filters. I was swapping back and forth between no filter and either of two Singh-Ray filters, the LB Warming Polarizer, which is my regular everyday polarizer, and the Gold-n-Blue Polarizer that accentuates gold and blue tones in various ways. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep track of which photos used which, so I leave it to you to guess which used what. :-)

A walk at Seven Bends

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