Gray Hairstreak and Tiny Tuesday Results

I mentioned a few days ago that I was doing a 14-day Impressionist Photo Challenge and it isn’t going as well as I had hoped.  The first few days I was fairly happy with my images but the day of the “vaseline” filter was quite a failure and I have dropped behind.  It is going to take me more than 14 days to do this challenge but I am going to try to stick with it.  Today I went to our local botanical gardens with just the Lensbaby Velvet56 lens as well as close-up filters, ND filters for slow shutter speed, and even the vaseline filter and some plastic wrap.  I was determined to just “work it.” and work it I did until I came across a bed of Garlic Chives that was just covered in at least a dozen different pollinators. The Lensbaby V56 was the only lens I had with me and fortunately, it is a fairly good macro lens with a minimum focusing distance of 4 inches.  The only drawback is the manual focus. Nevertheless,  I stuck my head in close to all the buzzing critters and struggled to get a shot of this gorgeous little Gray Hairstreak. I spent about 45 minutes and I took a ridiculous amount of shots to get this one.  I think it was worth it. 

Thanks to all who joined in the Tiny Tuesday Challenge this week.  Some of you opted for the mystery macro with some very clever shots, a few of which have received hearts here. 
 
My favorites this week, in no particular order:
Paola
Skeena
Hanullis
SandraSuisse
Gordo
Riwaka7

I also really liked the following blips which deserve mentioning here:
Pixelfoto
Wharfedalebex
fairweathergirl
soletrader
BlackTulip
Maura143

Next Tuesday, TT119 and the rest of the month of September will be hosted by Loisbiz. Be sure to stop by her journal and say hello.