09 Nov 18 If your normal approach is to read the vignette before looking at the photo today look at the photo first to see if you can guess what it is and then come back to my chatter. I'm guessing no one will get it right. Today we are truly looking at a macro image and one that deserves considerable scrutiny. The subject was roughly 18 inches across so depending on your monitor it will likely be bigger than life size. I got a call from my cousin's wife early this afternoon telling me that there was a large jellyfish that had arrived on their beach front and if I wanted to get a photo I'd better hurry down as the tide was coming in. We did just that and I took photos of it for the better part of an hour. It took a bit of time to recognize that I was looking at the ventral side of the critter and it wasn't until I viewed it on the computer that I realized it had a captured a small fish as well as some type of crustacean. I can identify a few parts of this Cnidarian but not all, especially the two bright whitish parts in the very middle of the creature. But spend some time looking it over as there is much to see. Jan thinks it was dead since it had washed up on the beach but I'm not sure. Either way I'm betting it's something you've never seen before. This is straight from the camera. Nude Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/400 sec @ f / 9.
30 Nov 18 Hard to believe that in another 21 mailings another year will have completed. But if for no other reason the weather should be telling us it is so. After I sent the B&W image last night I started thinking about how I could get those trees the way I wanted them. Fell asleep thinking about it and when I awoke I had an idea, so I before anything else got accomplished today I had to try it out. Voila, it worked. Today we are looking at the entrance to our small church a couple Sunday's back. There is a divot in the center of the pad in front of the main door which collects water every time it rains, and, as you might expect, on the really cold wet mornings it turns to ice. Kind of a nasty way to be greeted for church so I get there sufficiently early to sweep away the water, or, in the case of ice, melt it first and then sweep it. Generally it is mostly just a chore, but on those mornings in the fall it can present you with some delightful photographic opportunities, such as it did this particular morning. The combination of leaves, ice crystals, and ice textures made for a nice composition. Took all my shots, tossed the salt, set up for Sunday School, and then swept away the melt. Kinda like washing the chalk board for those of you old enough to know what a chalk board was. Other than a bit of cropping, this is what the camera recorded. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/80 sec @ f / 9.
