Young spiders

click photo to enlarge

Our New Zealand Flax (Phormium) suffered greatly during the recent very cold winter. Two of the four plants died and the other two came close to death. The deceased pair have been removed - a job for shears and an axe - but the others retained living leaves in their centres and have produced more during April and May: I'm hopeful that they'll make a complete recovery.

The discarding of two such large plants has left a big space in one of the borders that has had to be filled with small shrubs and annuals. The remaining two have halved in size due to the drying out of dead leaves and the fact that we've pulled off those that were loose. It was when she was inspecting these that my wife spotted the young spiders. They'd recently hatched and were clustered on a tangle of extremely thin webs stretched between some of the flax leaves. There was nothing elegant or artistic about the web; functionality was the only consideration in its construction. It was probably the low morning light catching the webs that caught her eye and she came into the house to suggest it to me as the subject for a photograph.

I took several shots using the macro lens, with and without the tripod, with the sun at the side and into the sun. The small creatures seemed to prefer to be in a cluster, a group that was about the size of my finger nail. However, when I touched it they spread radially, like a slow-motion expolosion, giving me a couple of different compositions. Out of the three photographs that I've posted I like the dark shot against the light best, though the other two please me as well.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Main Photo
Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 100mm
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/80
ISO: 400
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

A macro experiment

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Standing waiting for my wife in a large DIY shed's car park, I glanced at the shrubs that had been planted around its perimeter. Though it was December the Hebe "Midsummer Beauty" was still in flower. "Global warming?" I thought. But when I checked its flowering dates back at home I found that it can continue to November, so maybe it couldn't be advanced as evidence to the deniers. The cotoneasters were in full berry though most of the leaves on the deciduous varieties had gone. Nestling in my pocket was the LX3 so I took a couple of shots of the shrubs.

Wandering alond the border I came upon a spider's web with water droplets strung along its threads. I've posted a shot recently of this subject taken with the E510 and the Zuiko 35mm macro. "How would the LX3 handle the subject?" I wondered. So I slipped it into macro mode and took today's shot. When I brought the photograph up on my computer my answer was, "Not bad at all!" It doesn't have quite the detail of the Olympus, and the bokeh of the lens and the depth of field control doesn't compare. However, the result is I think, quite acceptable.

This is a slight crop of the shot, with some noise suppression and sharpening. The colour and contrast haven't been touched. I have the feeling it would print quite well.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 5.1mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation: -0.66 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Webs and political families

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Is it just me or is there something quite worrying about family members (fathers and sons, husbands and wives, etc) achieving high political office in democracies? Am I right in thinking that where this does occur it is more likely to be due to "connections" and nepotism than the political attributes of the individuals concerned. And that even if these factors aren't at work the very fact that they look like they are should be enough to make those involved search elsewhere for employment.

During my lifetime it has happened in the United States with the Kennedys, the Bush family and the Clintons: there may be others but my knowledge of U.S. politics isn't so extensive. It happens in the U.K. too, though perhaps to a lesser extent than across the pond. We have husband and wife M.P.s and cabinet ministers who are descendants of cabinet ministers. Some would say that the fact that politicians are predominantly drawn from only a few areas of employment, from higher social classes, and from a limited number of academic institutions, is more of a problem. I would agree, but I nonetheless think that the family connections route to high political office is the way of dictatorships, and is a cheapening and corrupting influence on a modern democratic society.

I was reading recently about the aspirations of Jean Sarkozy which many say would be unrealistic were his father not the French president, and recall that Chelsea Clinton may have designs on a political future. To those who say that the sons and daughters of doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers and plumbers often follow in their parents footsteps so why not politicians, I would remind them that those jobs require a demonstrable and examined level of competence, something that a career in politics can't claim!

I was thinking about offspring following in parents' footsteps the other day when I photographed a spider's web on my drive gates. Early morning fog had hung beads of dew on these delicate constructions, and as I made my images I noticed that some of them had two large drops at the centre. When I took a similar shot last year that web also had these two drops. Was this the work of descendants of last year's web architect? Is it a signature of a particular spider family? I have no idea! Perhaps someone with more knowledge than I have of spiders' webs can throw some light on this. Looking for something to distinguish this year's photograph from last year's I included some sunlit leaves which gave a yellow/green background rather than the green/blue/black of the earlier image.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35mm macro, (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/60
ISO: 400
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Jewels and Stones

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"You can't always get what you want,
But if you try sometimes,
Well you just might find,
You get what you need!"
from "You Can't Always Get What You Want", M. Jagger/K. Richards, 1968, on the album "Let it Bleed" 1969

I was never a big fan of the Rolling Stones - the musicianship, songwriting prowess and originality of the Beatles appealed much more. And, though I would listen with interest to their borrowings from the blues, and thought it was interesting how they developed their brand of rock, I wasn't motivated to buy their music. I found Mick Jagger's singing style and posturing ludicrous, but grudgingly recognised that he wrote a few good songs. However, Keith Richards' guitar playing, and his very inventive riffs were definitely worth a listen. As were the second guitarists who came along periodically to fill the gap left by Brian Jones' early demise: I had a particular liking for Mick Taylor. But, as a total experience the Stones didn't do it for me. Until, that is, "Let it Bleed" - the only Stones music I ever bought - came along. This album had a few excellent songs, particularly the one quoted above, but also the peerless "Gimme Shelter". It was the latter song, where Merry Clayton takes the lead voice, that made me realise what it was that the Rolling Stones needed - a female singer in place of Jagger! However, rock bands like the Rolling Stones are successful not only for their music, but also because of their image, and since that revolved around their lead singer, I always knew that my idea would never materialise.

You're perhaps wondering what the Rolling Stones have got to do with my photograph of a spider's web laden with dew drops? Well, I've been feeling that I needed to inject a bit more variety into the images I've been posting, so the first thick fog of the year prompted me to see if I could get a shot of pylons and wind turbines sticking up through the low-lying murk. However, when I went out I thought I'd better first see if there were any shots to be found outside my house. After a bit of looking I came upon a few webs decorating my drive gates, and captured this image. My subsequent foggy expedition turned up not one decent shot, and as I headed home these words came into my head (join in with either a Jagger drawl-cum-sneer, or a London Bach Choir angelic voice) "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well you just might find, you get what you need!"

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35mm macro (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/80
ISO: 400
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On