CRITTER DAY THURSDAY -- My Dragonfly Shot of the Season
posted by micki at 7/27/2006 09:45:00 AM
Thursday, July 27, 2006
About Me
- Name: micki
- Location: United States
No digital photography here folks. Only film, all the time. No post processing. I shoot it, I have it developed, I scan the print, I post it. It is hoped that you would respect my ownership of the images posted, despite the ease with which you could copy them. If you would like a true photographic print of any of my images, please contact me at goodiesbaker@yahoo.com and I will be happy to provide you with one. Weapons of Choice: * Minolta 7000 * Minolta 9000 *Minolta Dynax 9 * Konica Minolta 70 *Minolta x-700 * Minolta AL-F Rangefinder *1958 Minolta Autocord *Holga *holgamod Holga *PIX Panorama Toy Camera *Polaroid One Step Close Up Lenses: Too many too list, just read the stats for each shot I post Scanner: Epson 4990 Perfection Photo Favorite Films: * Kodak Tri-X * Fuji Superia * Ilford HP5+ -- Goal: To make the best exposure possible, on film. A Theme a Day *Sunday – Take A Guess *Macro Mondays *A Glimpse of My Town Tuesdays *Wednesday's Colors *Thursday's Critter *Unique Film and/or Camera Fridays *Saturday – Anything goes
27 Comments:
In answer to the question PlasticTV asked, right now the frogs and toads are feeding on grasshoppers for the most part. Today we’ll be digging for worms, too. Since tomorrow is the last day of school work AND a Friday, I think I’ll take my daughter out to catch some night bugs to feed the little hoppers. Night moths may be a little fuzzier than the daytime variety, but they are extremely meatier. She’s been having trouble finding grasshoppers the past couple of days, so she released the smallest of the toads yesterday morning. I think she was afraid the bigger one would eat him. The small one was just a hair bigger than my thumb nail.
*milestone story regarding my older son, you may skip if not interested.
Yesterday I was getting my son dressed in some clean clothes because he had gotten ice cream all over the other set. After he was dressed, he went looking in the closet for his shoes, wanting to go out to play. He couldn’t find them (they weren’t in there) and started pitching shoes out. He almost hit me with one of my daughters wedge heeled shoes. I tell him to stop, that his shoes aren’t in there and he becomes very upset. He started to get out of control, so I put him down to sit on the bricks that the wood burning stove set on. He kept yelling at me, and I tried to tell him that I would take him out in a few minutes, and that his shoes were in the classroom (our family room) anyway. He kept yelling and I told him, “You’re not listening to my words, now listen to me.” I repeated the information a couple of times, but he just kept yelling and then sat down to his punishment. I went back to grading my daughter’s school work. About two to three minutes later, he got up and walked into the classroom and picked up his shoes and brought them in to me. This blew my mind. He had not known that’s where I had put his shoes. This could only mean that he had heard my words, they worked their way through his brain, and he was able to process them and do something with them. This doesn’t happen very often, only a couple of times in the past eight months, so I was quite tickled. As frustrating as it is, it can be amusing to see how long he processes simple commands. Like, when he was younger, he’d be running down the hall toward something that could cause him harm, and we’d yell STOP, and then wait to see how long before it registered. But the fact that he was able to understand this more complicated sentence was a thrill. Somewhere, something is working in there. We just have some doors to unlock…lots of doors.
Today’s shot:
I was out shooting an old dilapidated barn one Wednesday afternoon, but the light was too harsh. I only took a couple of images to run some exposure tests and was about to leave when all these dragonflies showed up. I finished off the last two shots on the roll of film, but I had the polarizer on, so the exposures were kind of long to keep sharp. I reloaded with a faster film, removed the polarizer and grabbed a couple more shots. I tried with the tripod, but every time I set it up, the dragonflies flew away. Yet they’d let me come right in if I was just holding the camera. So I just did it that way. When I got the prints back, I couldn’t believe I’d captured that many shots in focus. This is my favorite. I guess I should try to hand hold a little more often, and I am. So here’s my dragonfly shot of the season.
Camera - Konica Minolta 70
Film - Kodak Gold ISO 400
Shutter Speed - 1/750
Aperture Setting - f-8 Aperture Mode Manual Focus
Lens - Sigma 105mm portrait/macro lens
Scanning Method - My scan from my cheap little hp officejet 5510v all-in-one copy/scanner/faxer/printer
Things I’m Thankful to Cliff For…. Vacations in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and the black felt “hillbilly” hat you bought me. I loved that hat.
I, too, did wonder about the frogs’ menu but am not surprised to hear it is top drawer with your team out digging and netting into the night :) Not sure if they would eat a dragonfly, too . . especially from this extra-tasty shot. Long live lifetime childhood!
I would never be able to get such a clear shot hand holding. I love reading about your shooting adventures and stories about your family:).
Sublime capture. Those dragonflies are hard to get (at least I find)
Mindblowing colours, I love it!
GREAT GREAT GREAT SHOT!
And a good one it is!
About your son, I'm not sure with what you are dealing, but it sounds profound. I'll pray for you anhd your son.
Lovely colors and nice details, good closeup!
Gosh this is THE dragonfly shot of the year. Love the clarity of the shot, the composition, the nice bokeh... everything! Now i only wish it was large enough so i could use it for my wallpaper.
Erm... ok, so where do you get the grasshoppers?
Lastly, my sincerest blessings for your son, and my utmost gratitude to you for teaching me a little more about love each time.
Wow that's awesome! (to both your shot and your son)
Beautiful Micki. Lovely colours. Chris
really neat shot....lovely detail and color:-))
Outstanding!! Very crisp shot and lovely DOF!
Wow! Hand held, I'm impressed! You must have nerves of steel. :-) I don't do hand held shots because my camera is too bulky to hold still.
What a wonderful shot and a wonderful and understanding mom. That's why I like to come here there's always a good story that goes with the picture.
Well I guess if you're just going to have one dragonfly shot it has to be this spectacular :-)
Micki I love your natural shots of bugs and I love reading tid bits about your son. I have a friend and she walked in your shoes with her son who is now 28 yrs old chronologically.He is the most lovable person to be around and LOVES his music! I am sure your son the same!!
fantastic... what a great shot...
:o)
T
That placed the tiny beast well, to give greater interest him. Beautiful, beautiful.
What a great shot. I captured a dragonfly recently and was amazed that the little guy stayed still for me for so long. Dragonflies are great, (except when riding your bike through a park and you get wacked by one in the head...another dragonfly experience)
Congrats to your son and his accomplishments
Not easy to photograph, good capture.
yay! great macro. The sky is a bit distracting, but i love the vivid colours.
The dragonfly looks, whit this black spots, like a leopard! Nice one but to be a perfect shot, in my mind the dragonfly should be on the right sight. :-)
and what a lovely shot this is! great macro work.
Great about your son. Another barrier starting to come down.
I love the dragonfly shot. It really is amazingly clear. Wonderful!
I missed this photo yesterday. I love it. The yellow is great, and I like the background too. I enjoyed the story about your sons shoes.
Great shot, especially for being handheld. Love the colors.
pfgwow ! Nice one !
Wowzerama! Superb image, Micki! What perfect DoF placement - and hand-held!
Each and every one of your milestone stories is an uplifting experience - thanks for sharing them :-)
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