Yes, I’m a photographer who spends hours upon hours photographing flowers, is passionate about flowers, has a website all about flowers, and is afraid of bees.

I will easily admit that I do think I’m ridiculous in how I react to bees. At times you can see me squealing like a small child and running in the other direction. Though what might be more embarrassing is when a humming bird comes zooming by my head and I totally freak out thinking it’s the largest bee in this world. By the time I calm down, I can only laugh at myself and hope that the next time I won’t react so frantically; a work in progress.

In fact, I recently had to work on my fear to shoot Wednesday’s Flower. I was at the Huntington Library and Botanical Garden in Pasadena, California, and I came across a tall, overflowing tree with large clusters of soft pink flowers hanging from it. This tree that reached over two stories high and whose flowers were so fragrant attracted every bee in the area. It was a challenging decision for me: shoot this flower or risk self-mortification. I decided I could not pass up its beauty. I braved the next hour and a half photographing it as bees were flying all around and even bumping into me, and I was doing everything I could to not run in the other direction.

I will tell you that when I finished my shoot, I could truly feel how exhausted my body was from working on my fear and staying calm. Fortunately, I only had time to shoot one more flower that day and it was not nearly as attractive to bees.

I hope you enjoy this flower tomorrow, Wednesday’s Flower, as much as I did to stay and face my fear of bees.

Share with me if you too have such a fear of bees, or share with me one of your fears and how you looked it right in the eye.

Flower at the top of the post: Hungarian Blue Bread Seed Poppy

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