These are orchid images I shot from the 2013 Orchid Show at the Missouri Botanical Garden (a.k.a. Shaw's Garden. Established 1857 by Henry Shaw) While this was an exercise and learning process for sharpening my photographic skills, it was also a chance to immerse myself in the varied beauty of this fantastic plant and clear my mind of all distractions. For me, Shaw is the best place in St. Louis to do just that, relax and enjoy a vast collection of botanical treasures.  
I'm still using the Sony Nex-5N that I purchased in the Summer of 2012 and am continuously pleased with its results.  It's small footprint and ability to use literally hundreds of different lenses through adapters presents many options to explore.  For the Orchid Show, I mainly used a Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm f1.4 from the 1980's on the captures. Along with a Raynox 150 diopter attached, I could  get macro-like results and exploit the shallow depth of field from this lens even more so.
Below (click on each for a larger image) are a few examples I took from the show. A more complete offering can be found on my site here. If you have any questions or comments, send them on over to me. I hope you can experience some enjoyment or appreciation for nature from these. 

I made the move from a Point and Shoot ( Nikon S9100 ) to a Sony Nex-5N a couple months ago. Before the purchase, I still wanted something on the smaller side but with better IQ and the ability to take more control of the shot, ie,.. aperture and shutter speed. I knew that mirrorless cameras were smaller than bulky DSLRs, so I started my search with that type camera as my foundation. I came across the Nex-5N and something about it spoke to me and I read and read and read lots of reviews about it.    Sony managed to cram a mid-range quality DSLR  sized sensor into this little camera that used to be the smallest interchangeable lens camera in the world until recent.  It's capable of 10 shots per second and has a movable 3" touchscreen to frame your shots.  Once I found out you could place older glass on the mount ( via adapter ), that sealed my decision to buy the Sony.  It cracks me up to see this tiny camera attached to the back of a monster Tokina RMC 400mm lens.  I get only "Legacy" glass as they're called because I'm on a budget and don't have that much disposable income to throw at new Auto Focus lenses that can cost 4 times or more as much than manual focus glass. The older lenses are most of the time better in build quality and the optics can be superior to the newer stuff but it's up the individual to do their homework before purchasing these old gems from such places as EBay.  Look at the sellers rating and if you buy from someone that is below 99.7 % you are looking for a headache.  Meanwhile, here's a shot I took yesterday with that very Tokina lens.  More images of mine can be seen here.