Love Changes Everything
I noticed that the air has been a bit cooler where I live and that has brought about some melancholy on my part.
The reason for this is that in about 6-8 weeks time frame, my photography will pretty much be going into "hibernation mode" considering that my main interest lies in macro photography of flora. Of course, from time to time, I will find something of interest to photograph until springtime arrives, but for the most part, the things I enjoy photographing the most will die back with the first frost.
As I feel this mood of melancholy, I reflect back upon my various photography expeditions.
I think perhaps this was my most memorable expedition:
I was out in Lake County looking for a certain saprophyte that I wanted to photograph. This was after it was quite rainy. Aside from being devoured and annoyed by the various insects, I was attempting to delicately trek my way through some very muddy and wet regions. Suffice it to say, I found what I thought was the "path of least resistance" and decided to go that route. In my wisdom (or shall I say ignorance), I slipped and fell into a nice pool of mud. After being indignant for a few moments, I tried to get up only to slip and fall again. After repeating this a few more times, I found myself quite submerged in the mud pool. Eventually I managed to get myself out, but only after coming out looking like the swamp creature from some horror movie. Fortunately for me, there was a river nearby and I decided to go into the river to bathe and wash myself free of all the mud.
Later that same day, I came upon some rather nice looking mushrooms in my trek. They really were quite beautiful and I decided to start photographing some of them. There was one in particular that really caught my eye and I wanted to spend some time with it getting good photos with different angles and settings. So I laid down on the ground and got shutter happy with it. I was quite pleased and really having an enjoyable time working with my camera. The ground was soft and mossy and rather comfortable, so being there for a while was not an issue. Eventually I decided to get up only to find most of my body covered in maggots and some sort of decaying ooze. Apparently I was laying in what seemed like a "nest" of maggots. Back to the river I went to bathe myself free of the maggots and ooze. I remember uttering something about "there is such a thing as too much nature" in my disgust.
I was concerned about what I could possibly be laying on/in that there were so many maggots. What the heck was all that decomposed ooze??? Fortunately for me, I found there was no "body" that the maggots were feasting on. I figured out that since there were ample mushrooms around, there are certain mushrooms that fly larvae love to feast on and hence was the decomposed "ooze".
I have to confess, that looking back upon this particular expedition, if someone were to ask me a year ago if I was willing to endure all this, I would look the person square in the face and tell that person that s/he was insane for even thinking I would do such a thing.
However, my newfound love of photography has changed certain things about me. I would even venture to say that I myself, have turned into a chimera of sorts. Part city chic, part intellectual, and part nature-lover.
So, it is true, love changes everything...
The reason for this is that in about 6-8 weeks time frame, my photography will pretty much be going into "hibernation mode" considering that my main interest lies in macro photography of flora. Of course, from time to time, I will find something of interest to photograph until springtime arrives, but for the most part, the things I enjoy photographing the most will die back with the first frost.
As I feel this mood of melancholy, I reflect back upon my various photography expeditions.
I think perhaps this was my most memorable expedition:
I was out in Lake County looking for a certain saprophyte that I wanted to photograph. This was after it was quite rainy. Aside from being devoured and annoyed by the various insects, I was attempting to delicately trek my way through some very muddy and wet regions. Suffice it to say, I found what I thought was the "path of least resistance" and decided to go that route. In my wisdom (or shall I say ignorance), I slipped and fell into a nice pool of mud. After being indignant for a few moments, I tried to get up only to slip and fall again. After repeating this a few more times, I found myself quite submerged in the mud pool. Eventually I managed to get myself out, but only after coming out looking like the swamp creature from some horror movie. Fortunately for me, there was a river nearby and I decided to go into the river to bathe and wash myself free of all the mud.
Later that same day, I came upon some rather nice looking mushrooms in my trek. They really were quite beautiful and I decided to start photographing some of them. There was one in particular that really caught my eye and I wanted to spend some time with it getting good photos with different angles and settings. So I laid down on the ground and got shutter happy with it. I was quite pleased and really having an enjoyable time working with my camera. The ground was soft and mossy and rather comfortable, so being there for a while was not an issue. Eventually I decided to get up only to find most of my body covered in maggots and some sort of decaying ooze. Apparently I was laying in what seemed like a "nest" of maggots. Back to the river I went to bathe myself free of the maggots and ooze. I remember uttering something about "there is such a thing as too much nature" in my disgust.
I was concerned about what I could possibly be laying on/in that there were so many maggots. What the heck was all that decomposed ooze??? Fortunately for me, I found there was no "body" that the maggots were feasting on. I figured out that since there were ample mushrooms around, there are certain mushrooms that fly larvae love to feast on and hence was the decomposed "ooze".
I have to confess, that looking back upon this particular expedition, if someone were to ask me a year ago if I was willing to endure all this, I would look the person square in the face and tell that person that s/he was insane for even thinking I would do such a thing.
However, my newfound love of photography has changed certain things about me. I would even venture to say that I myself, have turned into a chimera of sorts. Part city chic, part intellectual, and part nature-lover.
So, it is true, love changes everything...
posted by Katie at 5:55 PM
1 Comments:
HDD: I am glad that you enjoyed the post! I have to confess, that it is an experience I will never forget! Although my trek might have made for a great clip on a show, I am glad that it will never be shown considering that I wasn't exactely looking my best. Considering how I looked between the insect bites, mud, and maggots, I am afraid a horror show would have been more appropriate, no?
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