Macro Photography

And now for something completely different. After i got back from Blackstone Bay Maree said i was grounded. So i hung out in the yard and took  pictures of stuff on the ground. It turned out to be a good way to learn how to use my macro lens.

I bought the Canon 180mm macro/telephoto but i'd only really used it as a telephoto lens. It has autofocus but no image stabilization. I quickly found that it was nearly impossible to take a sharp, handheld image, unless i could stop my heart.

  This may look good as a small image but the slightest breeze outside will ruin the sharpness of the full size image.

This one looks much better. Taken indoors on a tripod.

 A full size crop of one of the flower images shows the kind of closeup detail you can get. The serrated top edge of the yellow portion of the petal was not visible to the naked eye.

 It works great for product images too.

 Here's a close up of the tweeter in the previous image.

The micro circuitry of a printer head reveals just enough detail to make you want more. I don't know what the blue stuff is, it was inside the packaging.

I took the dog for a walk and found out it was mushroom season. I hate mushroom season because that's a sure sign that summer is over, and there's nothing you can do about it. But it also means that mosquito season is over, so going out in the woods and sitting in one place isn't a problem.

These mushrooms were growing on a log and a spider was hiding under them.

I've always wanted to see slime mold but i never did until i set out to look for it. Surprisingly i only had to look around for a few minutes before i found some! This is inside a fallen tree. The slime was everywhere in there but in the bottom these spores were growing.

I was already taking a picture of this mushroom when a tiny fly of some sort landed on it.

Macro photography is a whole new world to discover, and involves learning a whole new set of procedures and patience. It also helps to develop some extra joints in your spine and neck. I look forward to getting better at it.

I couldn't resist putting this one up. This was the first picture i took with the lense, right after i took it out of the box. Fisher was the closest subject of interest, so i snapped a photo of his toe. His fur looks kinda cool, like it could be hollow polar bear fur.

Practice Can Not Be Measured in Time.

Munindra-ji is used to say that in spiritual practice, time is not a factor. Practice cannot be measured in time, so let go of the whole notion of when and how long. The practice is a process unfolding, and it unfolds in its own time. It is like the flowers that grow in the spring. Do you pull them up to make them grow faster? I once tried to do that with carrots in my first garden when I was eight years old. It does not work.

We do not need any particular length of time for this process of letting things be.

~Joseph Goldstein