Found again!

eggs on cattail

I looked for these eggs yesterday and could not find them.  You may remember them from blog of Sept. 2. Larry at Larry's Images.com: My Part!

I had looked for them yesterday and could not locate them.  I assumed they were already gone without a trace.  Today the wind was moving the leaves around and I saw them.  I used my insect setup with a heavy tripod.  I was able to make this capture even though they were blowing around wildly.  I think that the dark eggs are ready to hatch.  I still do not know to what insect they belong.  Stay tuned!

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What draws my eye

Gorman Trail

I walk the same trail every morning. You might say that I am a creature of habit. How boring! I find that this modus operandi reveals to me many things about photography. I find that the light is different each day.  It gives me the opportunity to see what attracts my eye. This morning, as I walked, I tried to think of the things which I have noticed to attract my eye. This is probably not exhaustive, but they are: lighting, contrast (tonal, textural, color), movement (creature), line, and sounds (creature).

The bird house in this shot attracts my eye. I think that my eye goes down the trail and bounces off between the trees into the weeds to the nest box.  It is like a continuation of the line of the trail.

These colors turn me on!

Mining Bee on Giant Sunflower

There is something about the colors.  I think it is that yellow and blue are opposite on the color wheel.  I really like the colors!  The Giant Sunflower is currently starting to bloom at Gorman Nature Center.  It is a good place to photograph insects!  Maybe the bee likes these colors too.

My Part!

insect eggs

        Edward Weston once wrote in his Daybook the following.  "My work has vitality because I have helped, done my part in revealing to others the living world about them…" 

I have a high internal resonance with that statement for much of my photography.  I photograph to see.  If I like what I see, I want to share it with you.  I like the texture created by the eggs in their orderly pattern.  I like the dynamic lines of the cattail leaves.  I like the colors.

ID protection

Cessna 172C

I like Aircraft of most kinds.  I have been learning to shoot with my long lens hand held so I shoot aircraft as they fly over if they are within range.  My basic goal is to have a specific name for the subject of my image.  I found that I can do this by looking up the license number of the private aircraft online.  It tells the model number but also lists the owner's name.  I think that I will need to blur the license number before I show that image to protect the owner's privacy. 

New discovery!

Northern Pearly-eye

I shot this one yesterday.  Our county, Richland, is one of 11 in Ohio which does not have a documented sighting of this butterfly according to Butterflies and Skippers of Ohio by Ohio Division of Wildlife.  I sighted it on the last leg of my morning hike at Gorman Nature Center, Mansfield.  It was sitting in a patch of sunlight on the trail through the pine forest.  This was a new butterfly for my collection of shots of butterflies.  To me, that is exciting!  I think that I will eventually put in on my website:  http://www.larrysimages.com .

A new bird to my collection!

I heard this call the other day.  I am learning that the sounds in nature are as important as what you see.  I thought that it sounded close so I began looking for the bird.  I did not think to turn on my recorder while I looked.  I found the bird and was able to obtain a successful shot or two.  By then the bird was feeling uncomfortable and had moved further away.  I then turned on my recorder but the bird was a little out of range.  I borrowed a recording form http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/songwav.html so that you could hear the Rufous-sided Towhee.  The "birders" tell me they usually hear a bird and identify it by sound even though they don't always see the bird.

I used a Sigma 50-500 mm lens hand-held for this shot.  The ISO was set to 1600.  The camera chose 1/750 at f/9.5.