Posts in Category: Sunday
Milkweed Beatle and John Acorn. Happy Sunday!
The Friday night keynote at the Midwest Bidding Symposium was given by John Acorn, the Canadian naturalist who for 7 years was “The Nature Nut” on the Canadian Discovery Channel and Animal Planet in the US. This was, as John says, in the days before animal wrestling shows displaced real programing on Animal Planet. John also used to a regular at the Rio Grande Birding Festival and we have had several brief conversations over the years. He has been off the lecture circuit for several years, raising a family and working a real job, teaching natural history at the college level, but Bill Thompson invited him to this year’s MBS, where he told us about the challenges of teaching kids to appreciate nature in the digital age.
We bumped into each other several times after his lecture, the final time (so far) in front of the Lakeside Hotel where he was poking around in the milkweed pods. I asked him what he was doing and he told me there was an Earwig in there somewhere and, since they don’t have earwigs in Alberta, he wanted a picture. So of course I joined him in his poking. We found the earwig and both took our pictures but while looking I spotted this Milkweed Beatle, a far more colorful creature than an earwig ever thought of being, and of course we both had to photograph that.
We discussed cameras and I showed him my Samsung Smart Camera with its macro mode and WiFi connection, and I told him about processing the images on my Nexus tablet.
Somewhere after the Milkweed Beatle and before we found the earwig a lady walked by on the sidewalk, probably on her way onto the hotel. “What are you doing?” she asked (or words to that effect).
John said again, “There’s an Earwig in here somewhere.” but strangely enough she just kept on walking…as did several others who did not even bother to ask. Clearly John’s celebrity has taken a hit since he got a real job, but that was not what struck me at the time. I turned to John and said…”You see, that’s what normal people do. You tell them there is an Earwig in here and they just walk on by…”
“Yes,” he said, “odd isn’t it.”
And of course, to both he and I, and to you probably as you are reading this, it is indeed odd. How can anyone not stop and look at the Earwig in the milkweed? If that is normal then I don’t want to be it. I mean you run the risk of not seeing the Milkweed Beatle either…and who knows what else.
There is no pleasure greater, I my humble opinion, than going through life with your eyes open to the wonder of creation. John Acorn has always had it right. Go ahead and call me a nature nut. Proud and happy to be one.
And that, in a nutshell, so to speak, is the Sunday Thought. And let the unexpected Milkweed Beatles be your just reward!
Arrow-shaped Micrathena. Happy Sunday!
Here’s odd. I saw my first picture of a spiny Micrathene spider some time last week, most likely in a #spidersunday post on Google+. Strange creature! That is what I thought, along with “never seen the like.”
So I go out Thursday this week, between thunder storms, to photograph rain droplets on the leaves in the yard, and what should I find building a web in the Rhododendron, but this strange and wonderful creature. At least I had been prepared š
Come back inside to process the pics, and find that someone has just posted a series of spider images on Facebook, among them two different spined Micrathene. There’s odd. That’s what I thought.
This particular Micrathene is the Arrow-shaped. Micrethenes are orb weavers, but this is not the Arrow-headed Orb Weaver. That is a different spider, though I have seen this one listed as Arrow-headed Micrathene as well. Odder.
The only speculation I have found as to what the spikes are for is that they might make the spiders harder to swallow for any interested predators. š
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in macro mode. Processed in Snapseed on the new Nexus 7.
And for the Sunday Thought. It is exactly this kind of odd in nature which reinforces my belief in an intelligence and personality in the universe. In God. It is, as I see it, much easier to believe that this creature, with its elaborate miniaturized structure and its exotic coloration, was designed…than it is to believe it just happened by any sequence of random events, no matter how long you give chance to work. Of course if Spinny Micrathene spiders were the only evidence I had, I might be able to avoid believing in God…but it is all part of an all encompassingĀ reality that is being proved moment to moment in my life. An Arrow-shaped Micrathene in the Rhododendron on a rainy day, after spiny spiders on Google+ and just before spiny spiders on Facebook is just part of the ongoing proof…exactly what I have to come to expect of the slightly whimsical (from my point of view) love of the creator God.
Small Tortoiseshell in Abundance. Happy Sunday!
I saw a few Small Tortoiseshell butterflies in England, and several in Germany, but there in Holland they seem to be the dominant species right now, outnumbering even the Cabbage Whites. Such a beauty! And perched (and feeding on) the purple flowers makes the beauty just that much more obvious. I took way too many Tortoise shell pics š
Canon SX50HS at 1800mm equivalent (full zoom plus 1.5x digital tel-extender). Program with -1/3 EV exposure compensation. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Nexus 7.
And for the Sunday Thought. I am on the 10th day of a 12 day swing through England, Germany, and Holland. The trip has centered on birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and nature observation in general, and on optics for nature observation (which is, after all, my business). I have seen parts of Germany I have never seen before and, though I have visited Rutland Water in the UK many times and the Oostvaardersplassen in Holland just a year ago, there is always something new to see. And my business puts me in contact with people, wherever I go, who are as interested in nature and nature observation as I am. It is a good life š and I am reminded of that every time I have to explain my job to a new acquaintance, as I have done many time on this trip. God is good. What else can you say? Happy Sunday.
England in any weather: Happy Sunday!
We have had every kind of summer weather England has to offer at Rutland Water in the past 3 days. In fact most days we have had them all in a single day š This is a sweep pano showing the little cove where the optics tent (on the left, I am here for the British Birding Fair) is located, around to the Anglican Water Bird Center on the right. It is typical English weather. About to rain or just finished raining.
Still this is a view that has a lot to interest in any weather.
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F. Sweep panorama mode. Processed on the Google Nexus 7 in PicSay Pro.
And for the Sunday thought. I know how blessed I am to be here in England to experience the beauty of these days at Rutland Water. And this, my birthday week, I realize how blessed I am to be here on Earth to experience the beauty of this life. I am not sure I give enough back, but I am sure this is part of what I have to give: these images and these musings.
Strange Beauty. Happy Sunday!
Or maybe the beauty of the strange. This Great Golden Digger Wasp was one of many insects enjoying the thistle blooms yesterday at my local dragonfly ponds. It is certainly interesting for its contrasting color alone. And then the textures: furry and hard and gossamer wings. And the form. Those huge black eyes, the waving antennas, and that unlikely waist. None of it is conventionally beautiful, but the sum is certainly eye-catchingly compelling.
I did not always see the beauty in wasps. I am coming to it though, through my study of dragonflies and damselflies. After two years with the Odonata, now I look closely at every bug!
Canon SX50HS. Program with my usual modifications. 1800mm equivalent field if view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ISO 500. Processed in Lightroom.
And for the Sunday thought. In order to see the beauty of the Great Golden Digger Wasp you have to get beyond the fact that it is a bug. And a wasp at that. For many humans that is simply too much to ask. Our horror of the creepy crawlies is too deep-seated. And any wasp is seem as a potential threat. And I mean, let’s face it: The Great Golden Digger Wasp is just so strange…so alien…so very other. The eyes alone are the stuff of nightmares. And yet I am convinced that being able to see the beauty of this creature is a spiritual “step in the right direction.” It is an act of insight that prepares us to see the beauty in each other…which is, of course, a spiritual necessity. (And sometimes that is no harder than seeing the beauty in this wasp.) On a deeper level it prepares us for the realization that all that lives is beautiful because it lives…because it is an expression of the one creative life that lives all creatures…another expression of the loving life that creates us all.
So take another look at the Great Golden Digger Wasp. Seeing its beauty is a small step, but it is a step in the right direction.
Northern Blazing Star: Happy Sunday!
I scootered out to the Kennebunk Plains yesterday, since it was an amazing summer day in Southern Maine, to see if, by any chance, the Northern Blazing Star was coming on to full bloom. I saw a few plants blooming on the south side of the highway a week ago, but only just a few. The main mass of Blazing Star is on the north side of the road, in the bigger section of the plains, but the plants on the south side always bloom earlier. I am not sure why. Alas, even on the south side, the Blazing Star is far from full bloom. And it looks to be a good year for Blazing Star. The plants are full of flower heads and the stands are particularly lush compared to last year. As it happens, I will probably miss the best bloom this year. i have only one more Saturday before I am off for several weeks of travel. This time next week I will be doing my final packing for a trip to Virginia for meetings, and then, as soon as I get back, I will be packing for two weeks of Bird Fairs, product testing, and birding in England, Germany, and Holland. And the Blazing Star will be going on without me š
There is nothing quite like the Blazing Star show on the Kennebunk Plains in a good year. The intense purple of the thistle like flower heads crowds out the greens and browns of the grasses and fills the foreground of any view. Bees and butterflies feed on the pollen and nectar, and dragonflies hunt the smaller insects attracted to the Blazing Star. It is a lovely and lively show. Not to mention intensely beautiful! You can get at least a hit of it in these early shots.
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F. Macro and Rich Tone Mode. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.
And for the Sunday Thought. The Blazing Star show is all the more precious for being brief, rare, and endangered. The stands on the Kennebunk Plains are one of the last strongholds of the plant in New England. It is one of fire dependent plants of open grasslands…grasslands kept open by regular wildfire…or in the case of the Kennebunk Plains…by carefully controlled burns that simulate the wildfire cycle. There is not much of that habitat left in New England. And the flowers bloom only a few weeks in August, when there isn’t, in fact, much else in bloom.
In a way the Blazing Star bloom is like a moment of true spiritual awareness. Such moments are precious partially because they too are brief, rare, and in this very material world, always endangered. Blazing Star needs wildfire to sweep the plains clear of the thatch of dead grasses, stubble, and aging blueberry plants, and the invasive saplings of pine and birch, poplar and maple. What do you suppose is the spiritual equivalent…the spiritual wildfire? Perhaps we all need something to clear the thatch and stubble and invasive saplings that would choke out the Blazing Stars of our spiritual awareness.
Might this be a spark?
The Universe in a Spider Web: Happy Sunday!
I don’t know why, but this simple image of water drops on a spider web covering grasses and leaves from my photoprowl around the yard yesterday morning seems to contain the whole universe…from the tiny detail among the grasses, to the vast expanse of the starry sky. I could look at it for a long time. Click on the image to open it in the lightbox where you can view it as large as your monitor allows.
Samsung Galaxy S4 in Rich Tone / HDR mode. Processed on the phone with PicSay Pro.
And for the Sunday Thought: The universe in every atom of the universe, eternity in every second of time, is a thought as old as thinking itself. It has occurred to poets, certainly…to philosophers…to scientists…to anyone who has closely observed life and being. It is, according to the universal testimony of people from all religions, an essential element of the “mystical experience”…of transcendence…of any intimate contact with the spirit of all that is…any contact with a God worthy of the name. There are only two responses available to us in such contacts: fear and awe. And fear is just awe without hope…without the feeling of overwhelming love which makes such an experience of the all in all both bearable and glorious. Fear drives us down. Awe lifts us up. Fear causes flight or fight response…and a tightened hold on our lives and our selves. Awe causes us to let go of ourselves, and fly willingly to an embrace in infinite love. Fear holds tight to what is. Awe lets go to the beauty and rightness of what will be.
Just occasionally that experience gets caught in an image, as, for me, it does here…in the water droplets covering the spider web over wet grass and leaves, in my yard, on an ordinary morning after a night of rain.
Rachel Carson NWR Vista: via phone. Happy Sunday!
This is one of my favorite views at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, along the short headquarter’s loop of trial. It overlooks the Merriland River, which becomes the Little River for the rest of it’s run t the sea, just beyond those ponds where Branch Brook joins it on the left. The view is exceptional in every season. If you pursue my back trail of posts, you will find many views of this scene over the years. Here the new, emerging foliage of spring gives the trees and forest a delicate look. The sun penetrates deeper and brings out textures in the wood, and in the scene overall. The wide, 6×9 ratio of theĀ image makes it a real vista shot. I like it as well as any shot from this spot I have ever taken!
And now I have to tell you it was taken with my phone. I have new Samsung Galaxy S4, my first Galaxy and my first Samsung, but not my first phone with a camera. I had, a few phones ago, the iPhone 4, which had an excellent camera. Its range was extended in all kinds of useful and interesting ways by clever software from the vast iPhone ecosystem. I was impressed. My first HDR photos were, in fact, taken with the iPhone and the HDR Photo app. Still, it was a phone camera, and not quite good enough to tempt me chose it in any situation over my Canon P&Ss.
I don’t know how much Apple managed to improve the camera in the later generations of iPhones, as I lost my enchantment with all things Apple when my iPhone 4 died a way too early death, and the good folks at the Apple store wanted to charge me $140 to replace it with a reconditioned unit. I went Android. The camera in my first Andriod phone was certainly no temptation, as a photographic tool.
However, I do, already, find myself putting out the Galaxy S4, with its high resolution sensor; fast, wide lens: and built in software for all kinds of special effects (including an excellent HDR) even when I am carrying my Canon SX50HS. Take this shot. The Samsung HDR software (which appears to work off a single exposure), did as well with the range of light as I could have done with a full fledged 3 exposure HDR from my Canon, and way better than the in-camera HDR on the SX50HS. With my standard tweaking in Lightroom, or even processed in Snapseed right on the phone, the results are very satisfying. And,Ā embarrassedĀ as I am to be seen by anyone actually using my phone to take a picture, I can not, and do not, argue with the results. My Galaxy S4 pictures get uploaded to my WideEyedInWonder albums right along side my Canon shots.
Embarrassed? Well, yes. I mean, it’s a phone. And it is a thing. I mean the “everyone with a smart phone is photographer” thing. A “teen-girls snapping everything and mostly each other and posting every shot to Facebook” thing. It is, maybe, a “generational” thing. I am too old, and much too experienced as photographer, to be taking pictures with my smartphone. Aren’t I?
Apparently not.
So, it is Sunday, and somewhere in this story there has to be a spiritual truth, or at least segue to the spiritual. The spirit, of course, neither ages or gains experience. The spirit in us is always young. It is that inner child thing. The spirit in us is always looking for and fining new ways to experience and to share the wonder that is life…to express itself and to impress itself on the world of time and matter. The spirit in me is just simply delighted with the new toy/tool that that the wizards at Samsung have put in my hands. Any embarrassment is purely in the flesh (of matter and time), and, thereforeĀ irrelevant.
So, inĀ obedienceĀ to the spirit, I will continue to joyfully enjoy taking pictures with my smartphone. I may have toĀ vigorouslyĀ suppress a twinge of embarrassment when the guy with the Canon D7000, a bag of lenses, andĀ a tripod sets up beside me for an HDR session, but I can do that. It is only the flesh. And I will, of course, resist the temptation to turn and show him the pic I just took, processed, and posted to my social net onĀ theĀ brilliant high resolution screen of my smartphone. That would flesh too. Wouldn’t it? (It might be fun though…and my theory is that fun (good clean, non-malicious, fun) is always a segue to the spirit!)
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Old Falls Maple Red: Happy Sunday!
One of the reasons I invested in a gas powered scooter this year (as opposed to the electric scooter I had last year) was to have the range to reach Old Falls on a regular basis this summer. I want to be able to check this stretch of water at least once a week for dragonflies. I found two unique ones there last fall and I suspect there will be more that I have not seen this summer. Of course, I enjoy photographing the falls in all its seasons. They are not much in the way of waterfalls by any imaginable scale…but they are one of the few falls within a day’s drive of my home in Kennebunk. Southern Maine is worn pretty flat.
I like the way this HDR treatment brings out the red of the maple blossoms, and the intense greens of the young pines and spruces…against the dark water, and under this intense sky, with the boiling white of the falls in the foreground.
Canon SX50HS. Three exposure HDR at -2 1/3, -1/3 and + 2/3s EV. Blended and Tone Mapped in Dynamic Photo HDR. Final processing in Lightroom.
And for the Sunday Thought. It is the red of the maple blossoms that really makes this image stand out for me…it is also what I was trying to catch. Most people don’t realize, or don’t really notice, that Red Maples are red twice a year…not just in the fall but in the spring as well. I will include a shot from a few days ago in our back yard which shows where the red in the Old Falls shot is coming from.
Our back yard maple flowers are a bit more advanced that the ones on the trees at Old Falls, but you get the idea. The Maples of New England are fire in the fall and fire in the spring. And all summer that fire burns in them, obscured by the green of the busy leaves making food for a season’s growth, for a crop of winged maple seeds to sow the future, and to survive another winter. It is easy to miss the fire in the summer, but it is there.
I would like to think our lives are like that. Fire in the bud, fire in the flower, and fire at last in the fall. If the fire in us is obscured in the summers of our lives by the busy green of making a living, of raising children, of laying up our stores, surely it will rise up in us once more before the final winter. As the world dies out of us, so the spirit should show through more and more. Perhaps that is what we are really seeing when we say a man is in his second childhood. Red in the bud, red in the flower, red in the end. That’s what I hope.
Awe among the Redwoods: Happy Sunday!
Every time I come to the Redwood forests of Northern California I am struck anew by how impossible it is to catch even a hint of the impact of these giant trees, this amazing forest, in any kind of image. And yet I am compelled, year after year, to try. Standing among the redwoods, hiking the groves, just breathing the air of the redwood forest, is an experience I want to share. And yet I am never satisfied with the images I bring back.
Some come close. I found this view of The Big Tree from which The Big Tree Wayside in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park gets its name, out away from the tree on one of the trails. It is rare to see a mature redwood so exposed. Most of the trees this size are in dense groves where any sun that penetrates just makes photography harder! Big Tree is over 300 feet tall and 22 feet through the base. Figuring a generous 20 feet per story, that makes this tree as tall as a 15 story building. And 22 feet in diameter means I could fit two of the hotel rooms I am writing in inside it (or close to it). That is huge!
And Big Tree would undoubtedly be taller if it had not, perhaps before any human every laid eyes on it, lost its top. The main trunk ends at maybe 250 feet, and the rest of the height is from a secondary trunk growing out from the side of the stump, well over 200 feet up the side.Ā
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Fill. -2/3 EV exposure compensation. 24mm equivalent field of view. f4 @ 1/250th @ ISO 80. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
And for the Sunday Thought: well surely you can already tell from the title and the text where I am going with this…where I am driven to go with this. Redwoods give you a sense of the kind of awe that a person of faith experiences in every encounter with God…the kind of awe that runs under all experience for the people of faith. I am not talking about religious people, or people who put their trust in any organization or creed…I am talking about people who have direct experience of God, and whose faith is the inevitable result of such an encounter. I believe in Redwoods because I have stood among them and experienced theĀ simultaneousĀ uplifting and humbling of my spirit that is called awe. I know what I am trying to capture in my images. Just so, I have stood in the presence of God, known the love of God in Jesus Christ…just as real and vital as a grove of redwoods and astoundingly, astonishingly more. But I can no more convey the experience of my faith than I can capture the awesomeness of the redwoods. That does not mean I will ever stop trying!