Frost

Frosty morning. I stopped by the side of the road to photograph a beautiful old oak and found these little frozen delights. It's supposed to be similar conditions tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll take a few more snaps with the macro.

Autumn showers bring mushrooms

Jawbone

This jawbone was found in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Unsure what it is. A ruminant of some sort...maybe a goat or a sheep.

Wizened fruit

When fruit is too old to eat, it's still good for photographs.

Salamander?

I don't know whether this is a salamander or some other amphibian or reptilian creature. These guys are really fast. Sadly, this fella wasn't fast enough to avoid getting killed by a car (perhaps my car). Initially, I thought he was alive but realized he wasn't when I went to pick him up (oddly enough, I can pick up dead insects, birds and reptiles, but not rodents).

 I added the leaf to create a sort of dead still life. Would you call that a "still dead"?

 Did you know they have teeth?!! I didn't. It's amazing what you learn when you use the macro function on your camera.

Close-up of his teeth

I hate to say it, since it sounds weird, but I like dead critters since I can actually photograph them. Living are nice but they don't sit still long enough to let you get good shots.

Iridescent beetle

I spent quite a bit of time outside yesterday...soaking in the sun and playing with firearms (target shooting). While I was sitting talking with one of the participants, an incredible, iridescent green beetle flew onto her. I grabbed the little guy and took some macro shots of it on my hand and on my leg. I've never seen one like this before in our neck of the woods. It almost appears that it's covered in glitter (looks like some metallic watercolour paints I have). It's probably some sort of invasive species from Malaysia or another exotic locale. Hopefully, it's a benign critter.

Here's another shot of him so you can get a sense of size...he was pretty decent-sized.

Spider with dewdrops

Not much new here to report. I have some black and white negs that I need to contact sheet. I've got a few that are very abstract-like landscapes. Super-contrasty. Hoping the positives live up to the promise of the negatives.

This is an older digital photo. I quite like the little globes of dew.

A fly

In keeping with yesterday's dead insects, here is today's specimen.

Fly in prayer stance

Fly detail

Inspiration (or lack thereof)

Having a hard time getting working on anything at the moment. I am just at the tail-end of a long weekend and haven't managed to do much of anything I consider creative (though I started a strange piece in Painter - don't know that it'll ever see the light of day). Fortunately, a couple dead insects lying in my windowsills encouraged me from the afterlife to take a few photos. It never ceases to amaze me how much detail I can get from the macro function on my G9.

Yellow jacket

Yellow jacket detail

Yellow jacket 2

Yellow jacket detail

Mosquito

Mutant boiled egg

I boiled a bunch of eggs the other day and this bad boy was pulled from the pot. It reminds me of a geoduck. Or, it could be an egg with a little hat. Or, an emergency escape hatch. Too late.

In my garden

I was fortunate enough to spend some time with a friend this afternoon and take a bunch of portraits of her. She was very tolerant of my "four camera" method of photography, which involves (of course) four cameras (Lubitel with a flash, Fujica 6x4.5, Nikon 35mm film, and Canon G9) slung all over my person and switching on and off a photo flood. I have to take the color film to the lab and get into the darkroom to develop the black & white (I'm hoping I got decent exposures). I may post one of the digital images here in the meantime if she's okay with it.

Because it's so nice, I decided to wander around the garden a bit with the macro function of my G9. I was lucky enough to find this red ant covered in pollen in a dandelion. Unfortunately, this is the only somewhat sharp image I got. At one point I got so close to the ant that he landed on my lens - too close to shoot but it was cool looking - like a dark, ant-shaped cloud.

Hungry ant

I also shot this blue flower - pollen is so cool looking in macro!

Spider and the fly

This spider spent quite a bit of time in my window catching flies.

Here's one of the flies that didn't survive.

Slow bike rides in October

Although it wasn't the slowest bike ride I've ever been on, today was pretty pokey-paced. It's autumn in the Puyallup/Sumner/Orting valley (I'm not sure if they're actually all the Puyallup valley) and nature decided that yesterday's deluge was worth a day without rain, so a photographic bike ride seemed like a good idea for a low-key Sunday afternoon. I brought my Mavica 6x4.5 and the Canon G9 in my pack and took a bunch of different rural shots including these shots of an abandoned farmhouse that is slowly being pillaged for its windows, gutters and trim. It's sad to see these older houses stand empty, just waiting for a bulldozer. A few years ago, I met the owner of this house on the trail and he seemed like a nice enough fellow. Who knows what happened - perhaps he died. Maybe he just moved away and no one moved in.

Front of empty house

Side view

Rear view

Aside from the bit of sadness brought on by empty dwellings, I did take some macro shots of snow berries. I especially like that there is another scene "trapped" in the water drops of this image.

Snow berries

Snow berries detail

Some macros for a rainy day

Spent perhaps too much time indoors today. In addition to some darkroom time, I took some macro shots with the Canon G9 of stuff I had lying around. It might tell you something about my housecleaning habits when you see that I photographed a dead moth, a dead spider and a dying sunflower. They may be dead (or close to it) but they're still photo-worthy.

Ode to my Canon G9

Oh, G9. Why do I love thee so? Could it be that you are a light and compact camera? Easy to travel with, yet a capable image capture device. Shooting RAW in low light and bright sun. Perhaps it is your macro function - a function I am just starting to use - that makes you so loveable. You may not be as mighty as a D5 Mark II, but you do the job and at a fraction of the cost.

Perhaps because you made it so easy for me to shoot 2GB of pics in less than an hour at the aquarium today. I don't know why I love you so. I just know I do. And I'm not ashamed to admit it.

 Kelp and bubbles shot at the Seattle Aquarium. Aquariums are my new photo obsession.

An example of the macro function of the G9. I love the fact that the moth "fur" really comes out in these pictures.

Because it is "Cosmonaut Wednesday" (an event that occurs every Wednesday that I wear my Cosmonaut necklace), I thought I would add the little fella to the blog as well. Thanks Museum of Jurassic Technology for having such a cool gift shop!