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Over the weekend I regaled you with the story of my camera’s shutter. Today is the payoff. Using the mechanical shutter set at 1/2,000th of a second, and with the lens set to the point where it gets maximum magnification (about 150mm for my camera), I set out to take pictures of our local honeybees. Here’s one swooping in to steal a likely looking flower from one of its friends. Its wings are not completely stopped, but pretty close!

Next up I’ll try to get a picture of our local bumblebee.¹ They’re bigger, they tend to hover more, and their wings beat a little bit slower. This makes for a potentially more impressive photo. However, for those of you who aren’t big fans of our chitinous cousins, I promise nothing but non-insect pictures for the rest of this week.

¹The singular is deliberate. We seem to have exactly one.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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