Rain and me …

I tried to write a rain poem to accompany this photo, but in the end I just couldn’t say it better than Shel Silverstein did in 1974.

I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,
And it dripped in my head
And flowed into my brain,
And all that I hear as I lie in my bed
Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.
I step very softly,
I walk very slow,
I can’t do a handstand–
I might overflow,
So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said–
I’m just not the same since there’s rain in my head.
Shel Silverstein 1974

(Click on the picture if you want it bigger and better – I recommend it with this one!)

© Alice through the Macro Lens [2014]

Through a dewdrop darkly …

You may recall that yesterday’s quick pic of a sycamore seedling had tiny dew droplet in the background …?

These two pictures are taken from the other side of that composition.
Voila!
Tiny dew droplet now takes front and centre stage!
Feel free to click on the pictures, and see them in all their microscopic glory:

A host,
Innumerable as the stars of night
Or stars of morning, dew-drops which the sun
Impearls on every leaf and every flower.
John Milton – Paradise Lost

Every dew-drop and rain-drop had a whole heaven within it.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A bit more Sycamore ….

I’ve noticed that a few of the real photography bloggers I follow have a trend of presenting a group of pictures gradually through the week that all adhere to a particular theme. For example, one week, they may present a series of photos that illustrate shadows … or trees … or Spain … or dancing …. or flamingos. Then the next week, they’ll showcase a series of pictures illustrating daisies …or pigs … or … well, you get the drift.

For what it’s worth, I’m not one of those people.

Perhaps when I grow up, I could be a real photography blogger too; but in the meantime, it just happens that I took a lot of pictures of Sycamore seedlings on the weekend, and I’m not in the mood to be remotely inventive, nor go for another walk.

So … more Sycamores it is then.

Don’t forget to click on the picture to get a truer, sharper, clearer image!

Oh, and by the way, remember that droplet in the background, cos you’ll be seeing it again tomorrow ….

© Alice through the Macro Lens [2014]

Pseudo weekly photo challenge: Reflections #2

This is a second throw at Ailsa’s alternative weekly challenge. It wouldn’t be possible for me to pass up another opportunity to show another couple of dewdrop photos!

OK, it’s technically not reflection … it’s refraction – but what good is a photo challenge if you can’t cheat?

© Alice through the Macro Lens [2012]

Weekly Photo Challenge: Two subjects

The challenge this week is to incorporate two subjects into the same photo ….

So bring on the Dewdrops!!!!

There’s a short story behind this, in that my beloved offspring, messing around with his numpty mates, thought it would be fun to throw rocks at the visitors’ centre of the castle. He broke one of the windows, and to his credit, he did fess up to the crime. However, we are looking at a rather hefty bill to pay for the damage. As £5 a week pocket money will take years to pay the bill off, I’ve thought about taking some more unusual pictures of the castle that may transfer to prints for the visitors’ centre to sell and recoup some of the money that way.

The foggy one I did previously was one I was thinking of, but since my ongoing battle with dewdrops, I thought I’d see what I could come up with in that area. This picture was among about fifty I took a couple of weeks ago.

I want to stress (mainly because I keep being accused by family members who have been looking over my shoulder while I was looking through these) I have not Photoshopped this photo in any way, except to crop, enlarge, and colour correct. I didn’t superimpose the castle on the droplet – it was refracted in the dewdrop. I have added a second close-up of the first photo and inverted it so you can see the castle clearer.

© Alice through the Macro Lens [2012]

Weekly Photo Challenge: Through … (tenuously, anyway)

Those of you who have seen my last few posts will be aware that I am having a current issue with Dew Drops – somewhat to the point of obsession and compulsion.

I hate the fact that I can’t quite conquer them!

I even tried to sneak up on them this morning while they were iced up in a frost, but I think I may have to accept that there are just some subjects for which hand-held photography and macro don’t seem to gel – especially if you’re crouched down and wobbly legged like me!

ANYWAY – I continue to persist … although, as with ladybirds, my interest in dewdrops is beginning to weaken. But, while the fire is still a bit warm, I feel my week wouldn’t be complete unless I used a dewdrop picture in a challenge, and I think I can probably find a connection (albeit flimsy) to “THROUGH” with this picture.

Ohhh, but now I’m starting to think that I’m not seeing the background through the droplet. It’s probably reflection … or refraction … or something related to secondary school Physics that I should have paid closer attention to …

Oh good grief! Let me just publish the picture and be done. Then I can start looking on EBay for a cheap tripod!

© Alice through the Macro Lens [2012]

Bug-a-day #2 – Ladybird

Still in keeping with the “dewdrop” obsession, I snapped this little group of ladybirds having a get-together. Quite frankly, the little blighters are everywhere at the moment! And if I never see another one, it’ll be too soon!

(Unless, of course, I could just capture one in flight ….. Hmmmm)

© Alice through the Macro Lens [2012]

Dewdrops keep messing with my head. (Sung to the tune of…)

Yesterday (early hours of this morning?) I posted a rather self-indulgent commentary about being popular and all that nonsense …. In my haste to publish said post, I added a photo that I pulled from my “go-to” box of tricks of dew drops on a spider web thread.

Now, in the clear light of day, I question that decision, because the picture is not great – it is a bit blurred and gets blurrier as it gets closer to the edge. And one of the more annoying counterparts to my illness is an excruciating desire for perfection in what I share with others – along with a constant kicking of myself when I notice flaws. Consequently, that photo has been bothering the crap out of me all day.

But I have fought against the temptation to remove it. Something about this blogging business has begun to calm the perfectionism demon to some extent. I’ve allowed a few niggly bits to slide through, because I keep reminding  myself that I am doing this primarily for me, as much as I really appreciate the wonderful feedback I’ve been receiving from fellow bloggers.  Anyway, as usual, I digress …

I’ve been thinking about the way I take photos, and I’ve become conscious that my way of taking many of my macro photos is probably not the most conventional, and certainly not professional. I don’t own a tripod, so I have no choice but to do hand held stuff. I don’t like flash photography, so the flash is always off, and the auto focus annoys the pants off me, so I generally just set the focus to manual and hope for the best.

And I realise I do it one-handed too! Many of the shots I take are just me reaching into the briar patch (or whatever) with one hand holding the camera — index finger on the shutter release and thumb and other fingers around the grip. I have one of those LCD viewers that pulls out at an angle, so that’s helpful. But then it’s just a case of swinging the lens close enough and clicking the shutter release when I think the focus is clearest. Not the easiest way to do photography, especially when I have to reach up to or into something to get close enough – but I get lucky with it.

So I’ve decided I won’t beat myself up too much about a little blur on a single spider web thread three feet into a bramble bush, on a soft breeze, using one hand and manual macro focus. However, I must do better!

Dewdrops are a particular sticking point for me – I feel I can never get them clear enough or sharp enough for my liking. But I had another go this morning, in spite of myself, on the old blackberry bush outside my back gate after another foggy morning. This time I set the shutter speed to various fast speeds in an effort to reduce the impact the one-hand-held drift might have. And, in my humble opinion, this one came out a bit better than yesterday’s mediocre attempt.

I’ll get there in the end – but if anyone has any hints for a hard-headed, stubborn-arsed woman who is set in her technophobic ways, I’ll be begrudgingly happy to hear them ?

© Alice through the Macro Lens [2012]

Oh, good grief …. I’m suddenly popular!

I’ve just realised that my humble little blog has been a whistle-stop for more than 1,000 visitors already!

It wasn’t even four weeks ago when I was sitting in smugness at the fact that more than five people had stopped by of their own accord, and I wasn’t even related to them!

I didn’t notice the numbers were over 1,000 until just now, and if my maths are right, it must have happened a couple of days ago. I’m a little sad that I missed the actually roll over from 999 to 1,000. I know it has little impact on the meaning of life, but I like to see things like that. Sadly, I missed watching my car mileage roll over to 100,000 miles too. Same thing when it was getting close to 123,456. I watched the mileometer for ages, grabbing a peek every thirty seconds, and then got distracted (probably by something irritating like driving …). When I looked down, the blasted thing read 123,458!

But I digress …

Just wanted to say that this is a little surreal for me to be … popular.   Ok, I appreciate that for those of you who happily haul in more than a thousand hits a day, my jubilation may seem a little sad – but, speaking purely for myself,  I’m not used to this kind of attention.

A couple of previous posts have alluded to my complete incompetence in maintaining relationships, and my illness doesn’t make it any easier. So, in the physical world, I’m a bit of a hermit.  Nelly No-Mates.

I’m not unapproachable; in fact, I’m rather easy-going.  I just start to panic when I feel people are getting too close. I’m a social-phobe. Crowds are very scary places to be, and I can’t stand noise or chaos – so nights out at the club are a thing of the very distant past.  Instead, I bury myself in my work and my maternal responsibilities and rarely venture outside those two roles to meet new people.

Recently though, I’ve been off work for medical reasons and had time on my hands to do the two things that help me relax – writing and photography. It seems I’m not too bad at either, and since combining the two in this blog, I have received some beautiful feedback for my efforts. And in the absence of medical treatment (as I have also alluded to in a previous post), I need all the positivity I can get right now.

So a thousand hits is a huge accomplishment for me, and I am (as we say in England) gobsmacked and flattered.

If you are reading this right now – I thank you.    In fact, if you are not reading this and just looking at the pictures – I thank you.

And, despite its lack of specific direction, I just hope I can keep this going for a while longer, because it makes me feel good to think I’m doing good.

© Alice through the Macro Lens [2012]

Uh oh … here we go

Oh, good grief … It’s starting again … I can feel the mood shifting, and I’m on a down swing.

So I suppose this will be the first real test to my blogging promise.

I vowed that I will not go down the gloomy doomy route on this blog, no matter how low my mood goes, although I think I’m going to have to reserve the right to just not post anything at all if I feel completely shitty.

In a warped little twisted way, I’m actually quite relieved my mood is plummetting. When I started writing this blog on the 28th February, I was nearing the finish-line to reduce decades worth of anti-depressants down to zero, and on March 2nd I took my last little 20mg tablet. I’ve taken nothing at all for ten days now, and I had been feeling good! Not “good” in a giddy, fast-talking, silly way, but clear-headed and relaxed. I had been feeling that way for the past couple of weeks, and to be honest, I started to wonder if the Prozac may have possibly been the cause of all the nonsense after all. Simply coming off the darn stuff seemed to have cured me!

But I spoke too soon, it seems. The mood’s been dropping since Friday, and I’ve been trying to stall the crash by taking lots of walks in the sunshine. The poor dog’s knackered!  But even the sun couldn’t persuade me to smile this morning and I know the proverbial doo doo is about to hit the fan.  But not to worry – the good thing about this “cyclothymia” curse is that it does exactly what it says on the wrapper, and cycles. So I know that whatever goes down, must come back up again – and I’ll be back in the land of the eccentric fast talkers within a few days, if that.

I haven’t started treatment yet, but the recommendation is for me to take Abilify, so hopefully things will get on track soon.

I might be the only person who can’t wait for my Swinging days to be over!!

© Alice through the Macro Lens