Busy times at work and I havn’t really found the time to write longer posts, so for this week, I’ll stick to another quicky.
Canon 7D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM @ 200 mm, 1/800, f/4, ISO 200
The message that goes with this shot is the following: keep your camera ready at all times and when you have the opportunity to take a shot, do it there and then! Let me explain, this shot was taken from our bedroom window. I woke up from the chitter chatter of the birds, took a quick look and saw them all flying off. Expecting them to come back though, I took my camera out and waited, … after a few minutes, I was able to take this shot. Now, I was hoping for a male variable sunbird to pass by, yet till today, they have not revisited this particular bush, or at least not when I’m around. Thinking they would keep on coming back, it would’ve been easy to stay in bed, thinking ‘it’s just outside our window, they’ll be back’, in which case I would’ve missed this golden opportunity.
During the week, while talking on the phone, I tend to wander through the garden surrounding the office. Last week, I went through the parking lot, when some kind of irregularity in a flower caught my eye. Some closer inspection revealed this beauty, shot with my iPhone 3Gs, since I don’t carry my camera to work. I even disconnected the call not to miss out on a shot of this beautiful creature.
iPhone 3Gs, f/2.8, 1/390, ISO 64
Since that day, I pass by the area regularly and to my surprise the spider seems to be quite loyal to the flower she is on. Clearly a hunting spider, I thought she would feed on small ants and the like, yet yesterday, I saw to my surprise she was holding on to a bee allmost her own size.
iPhone 3Gs, f/2.8, 1/2400, ISO 64
Thinking this would keep her going for some time, I wondered where and how she would store her food. Yet next time around, there was no sign of the bee. Then again, this afternoon, she actually captured her next victim. Being a bee, you definitely don’t want to come close to this one. To my regret, I still didn’t carry my camera, so I used my phone again, not perfect, yet better than no picture at all. Considering the fact that these pictures are quite tight crops, I actually have to admit that I find the quality surprisingly good.
iPhone 3Gs, f/2.8, 1/1150, ISO 64
Quite an impressive little animal, as far as I’m concerned, and one that also shouldn’t get his teeth into you, since their bite seems to be quite painful. This being said, an idea has added to my photographic bucket list: capturing this one with a macro lens while it actually strikes, … guess I’ll have to spend a few Saturdays in the office parking lot ;-). Hoping she’ll stick around, I’ll try to start off with a decent macro shot next week. A nice urban wildlife photographic opportunity, showing you don’t always have to go far to find opportunities.
To end with, some internet research revealed this to be a flower crab spider (those who want more info regarding these creatures can check out this link).
All the best,
Guy
PS: next week, the first guest blog will be up and I will start a facebook page for picsfromthewild (Mark, a friend of mine who is a great photographer in his own right is working on the logo as we speak).
