BEE SPECIALIST

Yesterday while I was distracted on the computer (you know doing the usual - obsessively checking my Flickr account for new comments, updating my Facebook page, reading emails, looking at my RSS feed), my Dad tells me that he's waiting for a guy to come to the house to remove a bee hive from a tree in the front yard. He had gone out to water the yard and got dive bombed by a LOT of bees. I didn't think anything about it and then I happened to walk past the front window and caught a glimpse of these two guys in the front yard walking around in full protective bee charmer regalia and I thought to myself, "Holy Shit, I better grab my zoom lens and a Polaroid camera QUICK before they're done!" Here was a full on photo moment and I hadn't even thought to capture it because I didn't realize they'd be in this awesome gear - white jumpsuits, headgear with netting and yellow gloves!!! I grabbed the camera I've been using the most lately - my Nikon D40- and quickly attached my 80-200mm f2.8 lens to it. That lens is hard to handle on a good day, so I honestly didn't know if I'd be able to hold it with the stitches still in my hand. But luckily that wasn't a problem. What WAS a problem was that I couldn't get the lens to focus. I kept turning and returning the manual focus to autofocus switch, screwed the lens on and off, before realizing, "Ohhhhh, this is one of those lenses that DOESN'T focus with the D40 body." DOH. So I went back and grabbed my D80 and was able to start shooting. The guys (Dustin and Aaron) were almost finished sealing the mesh netting over the tree when I got there. They were both nice enough to pose for a few photos for me. I'm SOOOOO glad I shot some Polaroids because the surreal stuff just looks better on a Polaroid. I'm not a big Spectra camera fan - something about the shape just doesn't do it for me - I really prefer the smaller 600 or Time Zero format, BUT I figured as long as I'm taking a photo of two guys in this gear, the wider the format the better. I had three shots in the camera, was only planning to take 2 shots - a wide and a close-up - when Dustin suggested shooting the Bee Specialist logo on the back of Aaron's jumpsuit. Thanks Dustin, that was a GREAT idea and I love the shot that came out of it. These guys did a great job and if you need Bee removal in the Valley or L.A. give them a call at 800-636-2434.

After they left, my Dad, Lucy and I walked over to IHOP for a really late breakfast. When we got back, Lucy had to go smell the area where these two strangers had been and make sure everything was A-OK. When she got near the tree, one of the bees that was still swarming the limb actually followed her and landed on her side. She kept trying to get it off but couldn't so I swatted her with a shirt I had just taken off and got rid of it. Thankfully she didnt' get stung, but seeing her freaking out and trying to shake it off and not succeeding was kind of funny.

Seeing this guy walking around the yard like that makes me think, "the aliens have landed."

Running from the bees.






Dustin
Aaron