Photographer Rachel Welch captured a bumblebee flying toward a bright sunflower on Sept. 4 at Marymoor Community Garden in Redmond. She had come to admire the gardens’ late-summer abundance and take notice of the rust-orange sunflowers, where bumblebees and honeybees buzzed nearby. The photo was taken on an iPhone 17 at the exact moment the insect approached the flower. In the editors’ view, the photograph proves a familiar point: the quality of an image depends above all on skill, vision and timing—not on an expensive camera. The well-chosen angle and backlighting set the bee apart against the sunflower, as if it had just finished its “midday snack.” The editorial team invites readers to submit photographs from across the Pacific Northwest; the best images are published in the Reader’s Lens section, and one contributor receives a prize at the end of the year.
Based on: Bee buzzes in for sunflower fun in Redmond