Category Archives: photography

Don’t move

Insects often become aware of the photographer’s attention and either freeze or leave. This brightly colored little one froze, affording me the opportunity to take several shots.

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Rarely does one threaten or attack. I don’t know why some people go into a panicked, jumping frenzy when they spot an insect less than a hundredth their size!  With just a little quiet observation, a person can learn much.

Clinging!

It was a windy day. Many insects dropped out of trees, grabbing for any (hand)hold they could grasp.

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Must. Hold. Tight! – June 2012

The wind was buffeting this katydid, but it clung tenaciously, allowing me a few magical moments of shooting 🙂

The focus is disappointing, which I attribute to the windiness of the day. But one only gets a few takes before the insect gets nervous and leaves. Really, I wouldn’t eat it, but try getting it to believe that!

Blends with Leaves

This Copperhead snake would blend in much better with all these dried leaves on the “forest” floor if only that pesky early morning sun wasn’t highlighting the roundness of its body and the beautiful texture of those scales.

Copperhead Snake

D5100 f/8.0 ISO 800 1/125sec 55-300@68.0mm – Spring 2012

I am glad I was watching for interesting things illumined by the sun’s rays. What a pretty snake – and I am glad I saw it before tripping over it! I guess greenbrier over the path serves some useful purpose 🙂

Tip of the Day: Watch Where You Are Walking!

I have wondered for some time why I haven’t seen snakes and tarantulas while out taking photographs.

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Nikon D5100 f/8.0 ISO 800 1/125sec 55-300@300mm – Spring 2012

I figure they are there and they hear me coming from a long way off. This one froze and hoped I (and the cat who was with me) would not notice her (or him?). I likewise froze, then slowly moved my camera up to my eye and snapped three photos before easing backward, away from the snake. The snake did not move. The cat, however, is definitely still a house cat; Lynx nearly sat on the snake’s tail!

(Mind) Wandering in the Green Grass

This is one of the first images I captured with my new camera, a Nikon D5100, and new (longer!) lens, a Nikkor 55-300mm telephoto lens.

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Nikon D5100 f/8.0 ISO 5000 1/250sec 55-300@195mm – Spring 2012

It feels like I have wandered off the trail and entered an enchanted land of green grass and mist. In a way, that is what my camera helps me to do. I escape from my everyday world and mindset (not that there is anything at all wrong with my everyday life), and those thoughts and feelings fade away while I am totally caught in the here and now through my lens. Funny that my alternate world is actually the here and now! It is a mystical, magical experience. The glowing bright light of sunrise or sunset is what most often draws me out into my alternate world, but on this day it was a soft mist that formed the portal.

The misty look is partly an effect of depth of field, but it really was one of those days when mist rises from the ground and softens the world and its noises.

Just the Tip of the… Fungal Mass?

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ISO 400 55mm f22 1/90sec - Even Mushrooms Reach for the Sun - Spring 2012

The mushroom is just the part we see. Underneath, in the ground, or in this case in the log, is the mycelium. Think of it as resembling the roots of a plant. When two mycelia join together, that is when their love-child sprouts up. These mushrooms seem to be reaching for the sun just like a flower, and they are similar to a flower in that they will create spores (like seeds) that produce the next generation.

So this is my little woodland bouquet – isn’t it elegant? 🙂