It is the last day of my vacation, the last warm day for the summer and it is also the anniversary of my arrival in Finland, a full 17 years ago. This vacation has been among the most work-filled in history and there has been very little time to relax - I don't feel well rested at all - but it is going to get very busy at work for the next month or so and I am guessing I am just going to have to keep on keeping on.
My relaxation activity for the day (I have been trying to take hours here and there) was to head down toward the lake and chase the dragon. There was no heroin involved (though that would have likely relaxed me more) of course, yet this was another experience I have never done before - trying to get a good photograph of a dragonfly. As far as I remember, I have never taken a picture of a dragonfly with a proper camera before and it is a bit of a challenge, as they are skittish at best.
Where I was sitting had dozens of them flying around of different varieties, with the larger ones never landing anywhere near me, so the only picture I got of one of the larger ones was it flying away from me - not exactly "epic" by any measure.
I was shooting mainly with a 60mm macro which required me getting pretty close and since I had sat down there for an hour and hadn't got one decent shot, I started taking pictures of other random bugs I came across.
Dragonflies are pretty cool looking insects in a world of cool looking insects. I reckon that the structural details of insects is pretty damn amazing and have no doubt been instrumental in inspiring creatives to design and imagine from. Sci-fi art and movies owe a great deal to the design of insects, as they can essentially be copy-pasted straight into a work and immediately look alien. Make them a little bigger and they would be terrifying.
It wasn't easy for me to get pictures, but I think that toward the end I was starting to understand them a bit better and was able to get into position a little easier. I was positioned beside a little stream that runs into the lake, and the ground was marshy.I wasn't really dressed for the occasion however, so I didn't get too muddy in the process. I think to get some decent shots, I would have to be laying down more so as to shoot sideways or from slightly below.
The other trouble I had was getting a decent focus on the eyes, as they always seemed a little out of focus. When I looked at the pictures later though, they are in focus (generally), but the compound structure of this particular variety I could get a shot of is quite fine grained and my hand is far from surgical.
I took a couple hundred images, but I grabbed a selection from my camera onto my phone for a crop. I think there are better ones left on the table, but I would need more time to go through them and I will have to get back to work very soon, so it can wait. I have a lot of images "waiting" for me to have a better look at them.
The other challenge with dragonflies is that they are so long and have such a wide wingspan, it is hard to get a nice focal position (for me) as obviously having the eyes in focus is important, but the wings with their veins have a lovely fine texture that adds another layer to the image, especially since they are so transparent. Nature is filled with amazing design choices.
Now, to finish off, I don't know if this one is NSFW or not, but I think it is at least a potential talking point. I don't know what kind of mushroom this is, but I don't think I will google search it.
Now get this - I spent over two hours getting bitten by mosquitoes to get these images and they are pretty meh, in my opinion - but when I got home, my wife (who didn't know what I was doing) had taken the shot below of a freakin' gold dragonfly that flew and sat beside her for a half hour, while she ate lunch in the sun...
I mean, C'mon....
Well, at least I had a somewhat relaxing (and frustrating) time chasing the dragon for a few hours and I think that I might head out again some time, weather permitting. It will be getting significantly cooler and wetter now though, so I am not sure how much opportunity there will be before next summer rolls around.
To celebrate being in Finland for long enough to almost be of drinking age, I might fire up the barbie and make grill some burgers in the evening. It would also be a decent way to end the vacation and the last of the warm weather for the year.
Hope you liked the images today - the mosquitoes liked me taking them.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
