it is official, I am way beyond obsessed...

I started this post with the intention of talking about the photos that I had taken of a ladybug in a yellow poppy. I had fun taking the photos and wanted to share. As I sat down to write, I realized that the topic really isn't taking photos of ladybugs. It is about obsession.

This is the true story of the ladybug photo shoot.

On Saturday, I was at the nursery, looking for a special bougainvillea (first time not looking at how it is spelled and hoping it is correct). I didn't find it but I noticed that they were selling packages of ladybugs. Easy to justify because of the little bugs on my roses, my photographic heart started beating a little faster. The woman at the counter explained the process to me. Keep them in the frig until it is time to release them. Water your garden and release them at night.

As I went home, I realized photographing ladybugs at night was not exactly what I had in mind. I like natural light. So, I put them in the refrigerator. I decided that I needed to just release a few (I do not want to be accused of ladybug cruelty) in the early, cool morning, photograph them and release the rest in the garden, at night. I knew I needed early morning light and my "ladybug wrangler" to help. I took a few photos and released the rest that evening. To my delight, they stayed around. I didn't need my wrangler at all.

I was out first thing every morning, while it was cool and took hundreds of pictures (maybe more). I couldn't stop photographing them. There were different spot patterns, some with hardly any at all. They bunched together one night on a metal ornament in the garden. I loved watching them hang upside down, going up and down skinny stalks, crawling right over another if it was in the way. I think I am starting to understand why my daughter studied insects in college. Ladybugs, as it turns out, are photogenic, have great ideas for the perfect pose and do exactly what they want to do, at quite a pace. I grabbed my photos. They grabbed the bugs. The flowers were happy, the ladybugs were happy and so was I.

After hundreds of pictures (okay, definitely more), I decided there were perhaps other things I should be doing first thing in the morning.

Thank goodness for digital cameras.

Oh, yes, this is the one that started it all.

Linking to Seasonal Sundays and Your Sunday Best. What a great way to celebrate spring!