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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – What’s Bugging You?

When my family got involved in the regeneration of our local woodland, I never imagined that one of our tasks would be to photograph the insects in that space. My True Love (TL) needed little encouragement as he already had an interest in insects. Suffice to say, he has found it extraordinarily difficult to get these small creatures in focus. The wind seems to blow constantly and the insects make haste to avoid being eaten or to eat others. Kudos to all the insect photographers out there. I’m not one of them. You have to take lots of photos to get one or two in focus, at least my TL does on his particular camera. Anyway, today I am featuring a few of the photos my TL has taken over the last six months. Let’s get started.

Bug eyes.

Purple-winged mantid – Tenodera australasiae

What do you think? Spider egg sacs?

Two-tailed spider egg sac?


Beetles seem to be the favourite prey of many insects, although to be strictly accurate, spiders are not insects.

Diamondback comb-footed spider – Cryptachaea veruculata

Apparently the Cerceris, or digger, wasp likes beetles too. My TL is lucky enough just to get the photo of the wasp, so no beetles were eaten in this photo. Cute, don’t you think?

Cerceris wasp – Cerceris sp. (genus)

My TL also took some photos of cuckoos. How about this tiny cuckoo wasp? It is only about 4-5mm long and super fast.

Cuckoo Wasp – Primeuchroeus sp. (genus)

And a Chequered cuckoo bee. Seriously, there is such a thing.

Chequered Cuckoo Bee – Thyreus caeruleopunctatus

Halictad bees are also tiny. At least, these ones are. The first one has just emerged from a tiny Wahlenbergia, our native bluebell, and the second is roosting in some grass.

Halictid Bee – Lasioglossum (Chilalictus) lanarium


My TL tried to take some photos of meat ants launching their queens. But it was a bit hard to get them in focus. I was hollering in the background because the ants were biting me as they were scrambling up my jeans. Definitely had ants in me pants. We had to move away quickly. I thought I would have to drop my dacks on the track to get them out. Just imagine if other walkers had came across a man doing the same thing? He probably would have got into some serious trouble for being a flasher. Anyway, back to the photos – a meat ant pushing a lump of dirt downhill.

Meat Ant – Iridomyrmex purpureus

Speaking of beetles being eaten alive …. We know ants gotta eat, but my TL nevertheless rescued this beetle. The ants would not let that poor beetle go. My TL had a devil of a job freeing it. You have got to be joking if you think I am going anywhere near those ants.


Well, I can’t leave you traumatised so I will finish off with this lovely photo of a Yellow Admiral butterfly on a scribbly gum.

Yellow Admiral Butterfly – Vanessa itea

Thank you to Donna from Wind Kisses for coming up with this theme. It is probably the only subject that I can talk a lot about but don’t have to do any of the work to bring the images to you.

Now bugger off (Aussie slang for “Off you go.” No offense intended.)

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind · 39 Comments

Silent Sunday

A grey day that melted into night.


Okay, a few words. Our cameras and the software can do magic these day to sharpen and lighten up soft photos taken in the gloom. I constantly debate with myself about using all this tech to massage the photo into what I’ve been told is the correct exposure. I confess that I did touch up this photo. Just a bit. There is no point in posting something that people can’t see, I chide myself. But I like dark photos where shapes and colours merge together.

Nothing wrong with being a bit gloomy, readers.

May you be gloomy in the best possible way.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind · 47 Comments

Pinkish

Hello Everyone, I am not quite in the pink of health but I am improving. I was feeling not too bad about my current circumstances after seeing the doctor for a pre-arranged check-up (not related to my illness) today. That was, until I got home ….

My True Love asked whether the doctor had looked in my ears? But no, he hadn’t. I told the doctor that I couldn’t hear well (ie. very limited), but he didn’t check my ears. There were other things to discuss that I could barely hear. My TL suggested that the doctor may have interpreted that to mean that I was just getting old and suffering from age-related hearing loss! Nothing to worry about that my hearing aids (left at home) couldn’t fix. My son suggested that the sloshing in my ear might be because I had puss on the eardrum. So I panicked and resorted to Dr Google. The prognosis is not good. I could have permanent hearing loss or cancer of the nose, or another two week wait to see the doctor for an ear infection that requires antibiotics now. I could have a prophylactic antihistamine and I did.

Needless to say, readers, it has been a shitty few weeks of flu-like symptoms. Since I was the only one in the family that was too busy to get a flu shot and the only one who succumbed to this horrible lurgy, then one and one is … I dunno. Anyway, I had my flu shot today.

Anyway, anyway, let’s have a flower photo to pink things up here.

Pelagonium rodneyanum – Australian National Botanic Gardens


Hope you are all in the pink. Take care, everyone.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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Lens-Artists: Still Life

For the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Still Life. This week’s challenge is hosted by Patti. Thank you, Patti. If you are a lover of photo challenges and the Still Life art genre, check out Patti’s post here.

Still Life art often portrays a created scene/image of inanimate objects, but Patti gives us plenty of leeway to explore different types of still life images, not only the traditional “created” arrangement, but also “found” still life scenes–which we might discover in store windows, in a garden or museum, or just about anywhere. That is good for me because my photo archive is remarkably devoid of created Still Life images. Let’s get on with it.

I am often filled with wonder by the way Still Life images pay homage to ordinary objects. Attention to the small details matter in this art form. Perhaps it is the impermanence and fragility of the scene that I find so wistful.

I have chosen two photos from my archives that I think convey that sense of fragility and impermanence.


Next is a recent photograph I took. Though it be a contradiction, Still Life portraiture can also depict death. Here I have attempted to pay homage to the life that once was. Nature creates life but also takes it away.


It is your moment now, readers.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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Positive Thinking

For the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Environments. This week’s challenge is hosted by Tina. Thank you, Tina.

***

Sometime it is easy to forget that I live in the burbs. But then I return to reality.

However, I am soon cheered up by a change of scenery in the garden. Probably too subtle for some chaps.

I know this is a photo challenge but we definitely need a song. Let’s have a listen to LaTasha Lee singing Think On. Go, girl.

Be kind, everyone.

Kind Regards.
Tracy

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Glowing With Pride

This week I am joining in the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge which is hosted by a bunch of bright sparks, including guest host, Siobhan from Bend Branches. The theme for this week’s challenge is Glowing Moments. If you are keen on photo challenges, check out Siobhan’s post here.

My True Love has been taking some lovely photos lately, hence I thought I would showcase a few of his interesting (to me) photos. Let’s start with one of his recent arty farty shots.


Since I complained about the Blue-Banded Bee nipping me between my toes, my TL has been stalking these little creatures to get a nice close-up of their mandibles. Check ’em out. In the overall scheme of life, they are very small mandibles, built for respite and cause no lasting harm.


My TL has now gone a little insect crazy. Nothing wrong with that. He spotted a Tailed Emperor (Charaxes sempronius) in our garden. We’ve never seen one before so it was a pretty exciting moment. The Tailed Emperors are not rare but neither are they common. We learnt that they feed on fermenting fruit. Yum, yum.


My TL also set up a night trail camera in the backyard. The fig tree has been attracting a lot of critters, including Grey-Headed Flying Foxes. Can you see the flying fox’s eyes glowing in the dark?


I’ll finish off with one of my favourite, bittersweet, photos that he took in the summer of 2019.

Flame Robin – Namadgi National Park (2019)


We live in interesting times with interesting people. Perhaps I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Take care, everyone.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Caption This Photo

If you are staying home due to the long weekend traffic jams or for any number of other reasons, perhaps you would like to play a game with me? It’s called Caption This Photo. However, if you are on a long trip and actually stuck in a traffic jam, you could modify this game to suit your circumstances using the scenery on hand.


I’ll go first.

“Will those dogs ever shut up? I can’t hear myself think.”

Your turn now. Entries in the Comments Section below. No prizes, no glory.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.