Back to life

“Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, it is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy that we can scarcely mark their progress.”
~Charles Dickens

It's been almost half a year since my last blog entry. I can't believe I didn't even write about spring this year. Well... a lot has happened, I didn't even get to take photos for about 2 months. That was an extremely long break for someone who normally shoots almost everyday. I'm not about to reveal the reason behind the hiatus, as I'm not comfortable announcing every bit of my life's details to everyone. That's not my thing, perhaps it will never be. I created this blog for my nature photos and its purpose should remain the same. And so without further ado, let's get down to business...

Since the last week of May, I've been taking photos whenever the weather is right and I am not busy with part-time jobs. Yeah, back to the old ways, but I've got a confession to make.. I'm getting bored with my style. I'm bound to take photos of the same flowers and insects every summer as long as I live, and as early as now, it feels like my bag of tricks is already empty. I really need to try new things.

I would still love to shoot on macro mode, because that's all I can do. I've been thinking about nature abstracts. Roe, one of my Flickr contacts has a very impressive collection and I wish I could be even half as good as him in that area photography. However, there are a few obstacles, and the most significant is my lack of artistic ability. Macro abstracts are not just about details, it involves a lot of drama, that's why it's not going to be easy for my robotic self. It may also require Photoshop skill, that's also something that I don't have. Moreover, the limitations of my camera may keep me from producing impressive shots. Oh well, I'll try not to let such hindrances to keep me from learning about macro abstracts. I need to unleash my artistic ability, whether I have it or not :-)

I think this flower close-up isn't too bad:

Hieroglyphics of angels
Camera: Canon PowerShot A710 IS
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

I can't wait to experiment more on flower close-ups, but right now we still don't have much flowers in our backyard. It would be quite boring to look at photos of yellow weeds all the time. I'm waiting for the lupines, poppies, daisies, and lilies to bloom so that I can try the tips from this site. It's cool to learn something new again, it somehow reminds me of my first few months of exploring the complexities of insect photography. I think that if I would devote time on learning about nature abstracts, producing decent shots should be an attainable goal. After all, it shouldn't be as physically challenging as chasing bugs. In case it won't work after millions of tries, I can always go back to my photogenic tiny creatures who are also back in business at this time of the year. They're too cute to ignore especially when they don't mind my presence. The butterfly in the photo below, allowed me to take more than 10 close-up photos. It seems that my lucky star is also back :-)

Her good side
Camera: Canon PowerShot A710 IS
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV
Flash: Off