Category: Photography

Yesterday I used the following two pics to transform them into something different: B&W. I know the subject is the same but there is a difference, to me anyway, in the way a B&W photo feels that does not translate in color. This can also be argued in the reverse as well but I will let you decided. I will let you decide, talk among yourselves if you wish. On a side note I was able to do a two mile walk this evening, the first since last Wednesday. The temps are staying in the 90’s, plus the humidity, is keeping a brother down. Just saying.

It has been a good day but the once again the hot weather is keeping me down. The Bride and I went to a friend’s house and I set outside for two hours, in the shade none the less, and I was whooped by the time I got home. Maybe tomorrow I can get out and get a few new captures but till then here, from the way-back-file, are a couple in B&W.

We humans as a whole I am afraid are very disconnected with nature, and with each other for that matter. But it is the former I want to talk about here. I lived for 30+ years of my life in small cities but had family from small towns that were connected to nature and the farming community. I really did not pay much attention to the details of nature’s life cycles other than from one season change to another. Going on 15 years ago I moved with The Bride to a small home with 3+ acres in the country.Here, through photography, I have been more connected to nature and how our behavior effects it both in a positive and negative way. I do not use weed killers anymore and very few pesticides: Spiders and ants are to stay outside the house, that’s the rule around here. Also my world has been expanded by observing nature through the lens. One case in point is I had always hated wasps. That was a social norm and I too went with it till I started looking at them through the lens. As I waited for a good angle, or the right light, I observed something that puzzled me and that was the wasp got its fuel from flowers. “If that is so” I thought, “then Wasps must be pollinators ” and that is what they are. And they are great at pest control as well. Unfortunately they have had some bad press due to everyone having a “my friend almost died after being stung by a wasp” story. Don’t get me wrong I understand how dangerous a wasp sting is to a very small percentile of the population, and we need keep those folks safe through education of the signs and treatments for such stings, but for the record I never have had a wasp “come after me”. I have laid my arm on one and trapped one between my body and arm while painting and got stung for my efforts both times. That is their defense mechanism that is not however what the are. What they are is a vital and necessary link in natures ability to survive and thrive. In that light here is a photo of a Wasp eating on a Common Wood Aster and I hope you are more connected to their place here in the world we share with them.

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Connected.”

Exhausted. One word that says it all for me right now. I have not had a nap today, in hopes of a better nights sleep tonight, nor have I captured any new moments. So I borrowed this one from the photos I took the day before this grand adventured started. Enjoy !

After a difficult night of sleep/non-sleep I got up and headed out for my morning walk.This time I had a plan and was able to walk the 2 miles I had set as my goal this week. The plan was pretty simple: Hydrate (and stay that way),stop every 1/2 mile and rest thirty seconds and walk on. With said plan in place I headed out and onward. As I approached the first 1/2 mile resting point I saw a butterfly in the road. I thought it was dead but me being me I wanted to move it out of the road. As I reached down to grab the butterfly, it moved its wings and climbed onto my finger. Apparently “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated” applies here. It seemed quite healthy, no I did not take its pulse and BP, so I tried to put it on a bush by the road but was content where it was. Off we went me and my new walking companion.I hit the next mile and half without any problems but I did notice something missing: The wind. Usually in September we have a nice breeze here but it took a passing cars air-wash to my bring to my attention that we have had almost no breeze. With that I proceeded up the last hill to our place but I needed to off load Agua Jade, yes I named the butterfly, before I got home. You see we have a lovely inside/outside cat named Butterfly. She got her name not because she was a Butterfly but because she likes to hunt them and eat them. My mornings walking companion would not be amused I suppose if it became cat nibblets, so I dropped it off at patch of clover on the roadside.Here are few pics of this mornings walking companion.

I took my walk this morning and due the higher than average humidity was not able to reach my goal of two miles. I did a little over a mile and called it a win for the day. After my walk I did the dishes, a load of towels, walked The Boy and snapped a few quick shots with my old Olympus SP-350. Now I need, not want one but need a nap. Enjoy the day and till the next time~ John