This week’s Sunday Stills photo challenge theme is all about a bug’s life.
Do bugs bug you?
I am tolerant of most bugs except black widows, ants, and cockroaches. In other words, I will go out of my way to save a hapless spider or insect that is trapped in the tub, or the random crane fly (they look like giant mosquitos) that gets stuck in the house.
I’m not alone in my thinking…
“I never kill insects. If I see ants or spiders in the room, I pick them up and take them outside. Karma is everything.”
Holly Valance
My husband and I both love dragonflies. This one was at the end of its life and had flown onto the outdoor sofa at our delta campground. I took it inside and put it up onto the blind valance where it rested peacefully and beautifully until the end.

By now, you know I love shooting macros and close-ups, either with my camera or my Galaxy Note 10+.
Recently I took my dogs for an early morning walk and saw the bees buzzing around the neighbor’s lavender bush. Placing my phone carefully among the flowers, some bees still chased me a little as I hurriedly backed away, but I think I got a great shot!

In another nearby garden, the butterflies flitted happily among the colorful flowers.

I get inspiration from a lot of things around me – nature, hills, people, and even insects.
Ruskin Bond
Here are some oldie-but-goody images of other insects I have captured with my lens.
Remember the molting dragonfly? I was truly transfixed by this moment and lucky to capture it all.

Recently, with my camera, I caught the lovely pink lady in the Sierra Foothills last June.

My last blog post about bugs was The Bugs of Summer, where I showed my image collection of some interesting bugs!

October’s Sunday Stills themes are available here!
What wonders of the insect world can you share? I can’t wait to see what sorts of bugs you like or would like to see eradicated from the planet. But keep this in mind…
We hope that, when the insects take over the world, they will remember with gratitude how we took them along on all our picnics.
Bill Vaughan
Until next time,

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Live and let live, out the door they go
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Always!
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Great PIXS–I happen to have a PIX of a Praying Mantis coming up in a post scheduled for Oct 1. Insects make the BEST subjects!!
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Thanks, Frank! Looking forward to your post!
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It’s a whole new world out there with macro and the colours of the tiny creatures are always a revelation.
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Very true, a new discovery every day!
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Nice photos, Terri. At work, I’m notorious for grabbing my camera and running out the door to take photos of some bug or other. My offering is from one of those occasions: https://grahamsisland.com/2019/09/29/monkeypod-borer-beetle/.
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Love the dragonfly molting!!! (I adore dragonflies in general, too!)
These are all fab!
Here’s mine …
https://naamayehuda.com/2019/09/29/on-delicate-wings/
Na’ama
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Isn’t it amazing? Thank you, Na’Ama!
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🙂 Fantastic and magical!
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Wow, beautiful pics, Terri! The dragonfly moulting is amazing!
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Thank you, Stevie, I was so tickled to capture that process!
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Bugs always make very nice pictures, Terri, and yours are no exception.
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Thank you, Robbie!
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I am still trying to get my best dragon fly shot!
Maybe next year…
Yours, btw, are great!
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Thanks, Dawn!
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https://idahobluebird50.com/2019/09/29/30313/
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I’m with you in this, as I have exactly the same “sentiments” for bugs 🙂 … and also love dragonflies!
Incredible how good these phones can be with photos – Your macros are just gorgeous! But with the “pink lady in the Sierra Foothills” you can tell the difference between a real camera and a phone 🙂 Wonderful shot of that butterfly!
I don’t have recent posts on bugs, so for now I cannot show anything, but I have lots of them on my smugmug gallery: https://www.travelwaysphotos.com/Thematic-Photography/Bugs/
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You are so right about the difference in the camera vs phone, Tatiana! Thank you!
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😀
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I thought it was a link and got confused when I couldn’t leave a comment, LOL! Absolutely stunning macro “bug” images, Tatiana!
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Sorry 😊
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But thank you so much! I don’t have a macro lens – for one of the DGrin challenges I rented one 😀
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Glad you weren’t stung capturing that amazing shot of the bee on the lavender. But even if you had been, it might have been worth it. That is one spectacular photograph.
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Thank you, Leslie! Hope you are doing well!
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What a great selection of bugs! Beautiful captures!
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Thank you, Maria!
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Hi Terri, do you have a list of upcoming topics on Sunday Stills? As I would love participate.
Definitely a lovers of dragonflys in this house as well as the praying mantis.
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Yes, Suzanne! Got my the menu and my blog and you can find the Sunday Stills page. October’s are posted. I usually post the next month’s themes a few days in advance so people can plan 🙂 Love to have you along for the fun!
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OH I looked perhaps I did a fast “boys look” 🙂 Will go and check it out. Thanks Terri.
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No worries, always happy to chat!
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I’m a softy too when it comes to spiders inside our house. I wish we had dragonflies around here (we used to, but I don’t see them anymore). The insect population is in an alarming decline (as are the birds). So important to help people realize the ramifications of this… not only the loss of our natural world, but how it will surly impact our long-term viability.
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*surely* although I’ll be surly when that happens 🙂
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LOL!
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I’m not surprised to learn this about you, Janis! Our world will die without the infrastructure that insects and spiders provide!
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These are great Terri. Cannot believe you got that bee with your phone!! I played golf this week with a guy who was bitten by a spider called s a Brown Recluse. Anyway he ended up 2 weeks in the hospital and has a huge scar down his leg where they had to operate to get the venom out. Just sayin’, don’t trust the little buggers!!!
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Thank you, Tina! How awful about the brown recluse bite! I’ve heard their venom is worse than black widows’!
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I think they are the most venemous of all. Yikes!
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great theme https://cathscamera.wordpress.com/2019/09/30/sunday-stills-beetle-mania/
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Hey Terri, thanks for giving me a reason to scroll back through my photographs looking for photos of bugs! I got to enjoy the now long gone sunflowers I so love! Here is my collection. https://joeowensblog.wordpress.com/2019/09/30/sunday-stills-its-a-bugs-life/
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I am working on my fear of spiders. It’s baseless but picking one up and placing it outside is so not something I could ever do. Sigh.
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I really don’t know too many folks who do that, Jacqui! And I use a paper towel!!
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Terrific series on bugs, Terri. Enjoyed all your close-ups, especially the bee, the molting dragonfly and the pink lady. 🙂
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Thank you, Jane! The molting dragonfly was such a lucky capture!
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Hi, Terri – Your close-up shots of insects are absolutely stunning! I love following your photography. Very inspirational!
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Thank you, Donna, it helps not to be too squeamish!
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What stunning photographs Terri. I am an avid organic gardener and insect lover, and hate cruelty to wildlife.
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I hear you, we need those bugs! Thank you!
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I love the dragonflies and butterflies, Terri.
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Beautiful photos Terri! I saw a scorpion yesterday, I don’t like them, I got bit by one in Reno five years ago, and its not an experience I’d like to have again. The one I saw yesterday did not make..
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I don’t really like bugs. In Venezuela, we planted herbs to keep them away. In one house, I even had geckos all over that ate the bugs, but I didn’t really like having them on the ceiling in my kitchen.
Fascinating post!
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I can imagine, Aixa! I think my part of the US is mild with bugs. There were geckoes in Hawaii and in Baja that hung around and ate the bugs. I got used to them quickly.
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I have an Insta-friend in Houston who has all sorts of bugs where she lives.
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I HATE the bugs in Texas! Ticks EVERYWHERE! My brothers and I call Texas “Tick-sas.
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🤣
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What an amazing headliner shot, Terri! That bee and flower are my favorite of this post. I don’t mind insects. I think they’re part of nature and therefore part of our lives. I rarely get bugged too much by flies and can handle a few mosquito bites.
Like you, I “save” insects from death by other, less tolerable people and put spiders and such outside, whenever possible. I have no issues with wasps and bees, even after being stung many times. Mosquitoes sometimes annoy me, especially at night, and they are about the only creature I can kill. The worst, though, are the black flies (New Zealand) or no nos (Tahitii), or thirsty no-see-ums, whose bites itch forever and last for weeks.
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I suppose anyone has to draw the line with some of them 🙂 I was so happy to capture that image, thanks, Liesbet!
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