Photo of the Week – August 1, 2019

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It’s been a busy month for photography. Here is a pretty eclectic selection of images that haven’t yet made it into the blog – though some have shown up on my Instagram account, so apologies to those of you who follow both.

The “nose” on this plant hopper (Scolops sp) is more decorative than anything, as far as I know. It has a long mouthpart tucked against its breast. This one was at the Niobrara Valley Preserve.
Atticus and I saw five species of Dalea (prairie clover) within a very short time during our recent visit to the Niobrara Valley Preserve. This was one of them (purple prairie clover, Dalea purpurea). The others were golden prairie clover (Dalea aurea), white prairie clover (Dalea candida), silky prairie clover (Dalea villosa), and…
…this one, which is nineanther prairie clover (Dalea enneandra). This was the first time I’ve gotten photos of the fully-opened flowers.
Yellow flax (Linum sulcatum). Niobrara Valley Preserve.
I pestered this katydid for a while until I finally got some good photos. Others who have seen it have said it looks like it is playing a guitar or running a chainsaw.
This big garden spider (Argiope aurantia) was suspended on its web at our family prairie. By lowering myself close to the ground, I was able to get a good angle on it, which set it against the backdrop of a bright sky.
Thanks to some very generous donors, we’ve greatly updated our facilities at the Niobrara Valley Preserve. Here is one of our new buildings under the milky way early this week.
The milky way again… The Nebraska Sandhills are a great place to find dark skies and gorgeous looks at the stars.

Time to give that kid a camera

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How do you know when it’s time for your kid to get his own camera? When he starts stealing yours out of your hands.

My stepson Atticus tagged along with me on a quick trip to the Niobrara Valley Preserve this week. It was a last minute decision, but I’m glad he was able to make it. I wrote a couple months ago about an even quicker trip Atticus and I took to our family prairie, and that trip should have prepared me for his camera thievery…

As we were walking around some hills north of the river last night, we came upon a big cicada (I think it’s a bush cicada – Megatibicen dorsatus) that was just pulling the last of itself out of its larval exoskeleton. Fascinated, we stopped to examine it and I got my camera out, even though the light was pretty flat (thick clouds).

This cicada was just finishing its molt when we came upon it. They don’t come any fresher than that. If you look at my last post, you can see how much darker this one will be after it dries out a little.
Atticus was content just to examine the cicada for a few minutes…

I managed to get a couple photos taken before I felt Atticus edging nearer and nearer to me, clearly hinting at something. Before I knew it, he had my camera and tripod and was lining up his own shots – just as the light started to improve. Sure, no problem – help yourself! I gave him a few tips on focusing and some camera settings, but let him do all the framing work on his own. He came up with several really interesting compositions before I wrestled the camera back from him and we moved on.

Here’s the little thief, using MY equipment just as the light started to improve…
Here’s Atticus reaching in to gently nudge a stray grass leaf out of the picture without disturbing the cicada. If he can master that little technique, he’ll be far along toward figuring out insect photography.

I can pretend to be offended, but of course I’m really pleased he’s interested in macro photography. Atticus is clearly a science-oriented kid (reinforced by all the time he spent in Kim’s high school science classroom when he was younger), and I’ll obviously do whatever I can to encourage his interest in nature and insects. After he went to bed, I called Kim and we agreed that it’s probably time to get him some of his own equipment. I have enough old gear laying around to outfit him pretty well, so we can see how serious he is before investing any significant money. My only fear is that he’ll start a competing blog and put me out of business…

This was Atticus’ favorite from among the photos he took. Again, all the composition work was his. I advised a little on focus and had the camera shutter speed and aperture already set when he took over, but the real credit for this image all goes to him and his creativity. Can you see why I’m really proud, but also worried about trying to compete with him?