being creative for creative sake

It's been a while since I've taken pictures just for the sake of taking pictures. I don't remember the last time I intentionally went out just to take a picture without it being obligatory (I think maybe when I took my camera out into the water in Cuba was the last time).

Anyways my very good friend and talented photographer friend Tuan let me borrow his macro lens and so I went out today to my backyard to see what I could do with the lens.

My dad enjoys gardening and I didn't realize how many different flowers we have in my backyard until today.

I don't really like this particularly as a photo, but I like the design elements inside it. I think the out of focus and in focus lines make for interesting negative shapes.

This picture gives me a headache if I look at it too long, which is why I like it.

Either the ground was muddy, or my dog needs to lose some weight...

I initially went out with the lens hood on, but I had to get so close to some of the flowers that the hood kept hitting them. I feel like we have a surprisingly amount of flowers out in my backyard for december.

This looks alien to me

alien flower...

I love the detail in the color and on the head and back of the wasp. It took a while to get this picture right because they kept moving and the depth of field is so shallow when you're shooting this close.

My babies.