Pollinator Portraits by J Madrigal

05/10/2026

Happy Mother’s Day! Here’s a mix of male and female Ruby throated hummingbird shots from the past couple of weeks. It feels like the mating season is dying down, so I can finally stop shooting and start editing!😅

05/05/2026

Fat mama hummingbird eating for 3. Ruby throated hummingbirds typically have 2 eggs per clutch, each about the size of a pea or blueberry. Still enough to fatten a creature that is about the size of your thumb!!😅👍🏼

04/30/2026

From one of my favorite photographers and student of my workshops!

04/29/2026

I’ll bee a vendor again at this unique outdoor festival, about an hour west of Houston. Come check it out!

We're marking the calendar!
Vendor and sponsorship opportunities will be posted soon!🤠🍯🐝

04/27/2026

And the winner is…

Michele Koepke, congratulations! You’ve won a matted 8x12 print of this winning picture. Please DM or email me to arrange delivery.

If your name is on the list below, you are also a winner of a 5x7 frame-able greeting card since you also voted for the winning photo. Frame-able greeting cards are blank on the inside and include an envelope so that you can either mail it to someone else or frame it for yourself! Please also DM or email me to arrange delivery.

Stay tuned for one more giveaway later this week with a different batch of hummingbird photos. With Mother’s Day coming soon, one of these will make a great gift for someone special.

Even if you don’t win, my images are all available as greeting cards, loose prints, matted prints, also on metal and on canvas. Contact me to inquire about direct pricing (20-30% below my website) and free shipping for Mother’s Day!

Thanks to everyone who voted!! 🙏🏼😊🙏🏼The feedback is truly invaluable and greatly appreciated! If your name is not on the list below, but you know you voted, you are probably not following my page, which is required to win, and I am thus not able to tag you. Check your follower status if you believe you were supposed to be on the list. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!

Angela Hindmarsh
Dodie Stillman
Patrycja Burk
Michelle Bronson-Sewell
Rochelle Woodley Roberts
Mary Kobell Joyce
Rosine Valter
Stephanie Slater
Susan Nelson-Salsky
Hayley Mercer
Dave Sardella
Cheryl Cato

04/22/2026

EARTH DAY GIVEAWAY; FREE PRINTS FOR A FEW LUCKY WINNERS; PLEASE READ: Ruby throated hummingbird spring mating season is in full swing. I'm thrilled to have a half-dozen males at my ranch this year making for lots of great shooting opportunities. These were shot feeding on Cape Honeysuckle, which is non-native to the US, but the ruby-throats are quite happy with it, and I love how the fiery red color matches the hummingbird gorgets.

Now to the giveaway: Please choose your favorite 3 images by liking or loving directly on the photos, not just the post. I'll give one matted print (roughly 8x10 image with 11x14 matte depending on crop) to ONE of the persons who voted for the winning photo, totally free including shipping. I will ALSO give away up to 20 frame-able greeting cards of the winning photo (5x5 or 5x7 depending on crop) totally free, including shipping, to the other folks who voted for the winning photo.

GIVEAWAY RULES:

• Open to followers of my page only (you are welcome to follow and then like images)
• Must be a U.S. resident of the contiguous 48, over the age of 18
• Must vote for 3 favorites, not just one. There will only be one winning photo, but you must vote for favorite 3 to qualify for a free print.
• Voting ends at midnight on Saturday, April 25, 2026, and winners will be chosen on Sunday, April 26, 2026 via random number generator.
• Winners will be announced on Monday, April 27, 2026 around 2pm, and it will be the responsibility of winners to contact me via private message or email to arrange delivery of their print. Deadline to contact me for delivery is Monday, May 4, 2026.

11/22/2025

11/13/2025

Here’s a side by side of the same bee captured with the new Sony 100mm Macro GM lens. The 2.8:1 shot is actually a 3 image stack, and you can swipe to see a ~50% crop of each. You’ll definitely need to stack most subjects to take full advantage of 2.8:1 magnification since the depth of field is incredibly narrow.

Remember, the native magnification of this lens is 1.4:1 which is already 40% better than a standard macro lens. Add the 2x teleconverter and now you’re at 200mm and 2.8:1 magnification. That’s nearly 3x the macro standard 1:1. 🤯