Tried to capture the essence of summer: sitting in the garden watching – and above all: hearing – the bees gather honey on  Echinops sphaerocephalus. This very upright and architectural member of the thistle family was my grandmother’s favourite, so for me it carries a lot of history.

Bees, by the way, aren’t the easiest of animals to photograph. I tried to catch one landing or taking off, but wasn’t able to get a sharp image as the bees move in very random patterns. I like the backlight on the first image – and black and white is great to showcase the globe’s intricate architecture.