String of Pearls - # 142/2011

Not the finest macro shot in the world (hand held and the camera waving about all over the place) but nevertheless very, very nice indeed.

The recent heavy fog covered Europe from England across to Norway and all the way down over France and Germany to Vienna, Austria.  That's a very big cloud of fog - which is an excellent metaphore for the fumblings of European politicians failing to manage the Euro-crisis.

Unlike the efforts of Sarkozy and Merkel this string on the spider's web hangs together extremely well and does not unravel within milliseconds of the next (bad) decision being taken.  

Another string of pearls - # 08/244

Yesterday the navigation code lights of the airliner appeared in the long-exposure photo. I called them "a string of pearls" in the night sky.

Here you will recognise the "pearls" of morning mist captured on the spider's web (also featured a few days ago). Isn't the natural world amazing? By the way; the spider has moved on and the web has gone.

Red, white, black and a touch of steel - # 08/213

Another attempt to amuse myself on a wet, grey day.

The red salt pot stands out nicely and livens things up. The polished black granite provides a pleasing reflection and the white ceramic sugar bowl contrasts dramatically with the black.

The tiny dots are reflections and little flecks of salt or sugar that twinkle like stars in the black vastness of Outer Space.

The stainless steel spoon shows pleasing pin-points of light and I notice a strange cascade of stardust that seems to be flowing out from the bowl of the spoon.

The light comes from a very large handheld torch. The camera is tripod-mounted and the white balance set for "tungsten".

The Olympus C7070 wz was manually spot-focused on the word "table" using close range macro, and the Aperture was set manually at f8.0 to give a longer depth of field. The ISO was manually fixed at ISO 100; the shutter was released remotely to avoid shake and fired at 1/6th of a second.

It's not a work of art, but I am pleased by the richness, clarity and depth, which are the qualities I wanted to capture.

I've been bad - # 08/211

I've no idea whether this insect is a "beneficial" i.e. "good" insect or a harmful, therefore "bad" insect.

I have a strong suspicion that the concepts of beneficial or harmful are related to what we Humans regard as good or bad for Us, rather than some totally "objective" rating outside the Human domain.

Anyway: I now think that for a long time I have definitely been "bad". I have always respected the insect world, but never paid much attention to it. But now, having more time to reflect and also benefiting from a camera with macro capability I am beginning to think that perhaps I ought to apologise to the insect world.

I don't know what this specimen is. But I see that it is wonderfully made and not unlike me. It has a head, with two magnificent eyes. It also has a cleverly made "armour-plated" body (not at all like me). It's attractive, with excellent dress and colour sense (just admire those Italian-style padded shoulders); exactly like me!..........So, Yes: I would like to think that it and I could be friends and agree.

Camera: Olympus C7070 wz

The day of the ant - # 08/119

Ants are invading and exploring our kitchen, and leaving piles of fine earth all over the door step, and even swimming across water to taste food left in a basin surrounded by water. The ants are heaving and hauling and working very hard.

So, with this little "hand-held" macro shot, I hail the ant.....and hope it will soon go away. It's worth clicking on the photo to see enlarge it and see the ant's little eyes.