The Gulf Fritillary and the Offering

Do you remember the old Numeroff books? There are a million out now, but I remember If You Give a Mouse a Cookie being read to my class at least once. I have a sneaky suspicion the new camera is my cookie. I started with the body and the kit lens, but then I needed a memory card as the camera doesn't work without one and I couldn't find my old one. And why would I buy an SD memory card when I could buy an SDHC memory card? Then I needed a bag to put my camera in. How else am I supposed to transport it without advertising "look I'm carrying a $850 camera, rob me!"

So I walked with my camera to work the other day so that after work I could stop at my local camera shop, called Looking Glass Photo and get an appropriate bag. On my way to work though I happened to see a creature that surprised me by staying still long enough for me to take a picture.

Luckily one of the science teachers at my school is a "bug expert" and was able to identify the butterfly for me. I was actually under the impression that furry bodies meant they were moths, but the true difference is in the antenna. This is a Gulf Fritillary, or passion butterfly. And while I am extremely grateful to catch a picture of a butterfly without even really trying on my second outing I was a little underwhelmed. I guess I'm just spoiled from growing up with Monarch Butterflies.

After work I successfully navigated the bus and local roads to the camera store where I acquired my camera bag. I have a feeling I am in trouble when the clerk complimented my choice saying I would have room to "grow" into it, as there is room for an extra lens and external flash. Then she told me about a new macro lens that should be coming out soon. My Little Ponies, anime/manga, now this. Why can't I ever learn to pick a cheap hobby? Or is the idea of a cheap hobby itself just silly? On my way home I ran across this statue, which isn't that weird for Berkeley. There are statues of lions and dragons all over the place, but I thought this one was really interesting because it wasn't just thrown into the yard and forgotten. Someone had purposely piled fruit there as an offering.

Exploring the Neighborhood

A decade after my high school years the 700 some days seem like a blur but I distinctly remember a teacher talking about the amazing future of digital cameras. I was quite skeptical at the time as we had used said cameras in the class and there were several downsides including the fact the they saved images to a floppy disc (look at it and you'd get a corrupt file), they ate through AA batteries at an alarming pace, and if you were lucky enough to have an inkjet printer at home you could print about 3 photos before you had to replace the cartridge. Did I mention the cameras were maybe 2 MP at this point? Of course technology advances, and now the digital camera is standard. I picked up a rather nice one before moving out to California where it lived in my purse so that I could photograph flowers, trees, the occasional small animal, and more often my cats. Despite being dropped, squished, and subjected to the purse perils of keys and crumbs my point & shoot served me well until the day I turned it on, it made terrible crunching sounds and didn't work anymore. The exact same day I was handed a D-SLR to take pictures at my high school's graduation and fell in love. After doing some research I used some amazon gift cards Ben and I got as wedding presents and I invested in a Nikon D5100. And then I took a stroll around the block...

 I had spent the morning charging the camera battery so I got a later start than I would have liked. Noon-time sun has a bit of a harsh quality to it, especially in the summer time, but I liked the effect on the flowers next door. I'm going to keep an eye on this spot because I think the light can make a big difference, but I'm not really quite sure how. 

Then I ran across a really beautiful flower. There was a bit of a breeze out so I was hesitant to use macro mode, but I'm glad I decided to do so even if it meant a little extra time to wait for a lull in the breeze.

The last thing I photographed was a fuzzy little plant. I can't get over how many plants are weird and alien looking out here. Look at all the little fuzzies! I'm always curious about touching them, but considering people grow cactus out here too, it just doesn't seem like a smart idea.



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