Curious ...

Mushroom sprouting at Totara Park, Manukau City.

Not so long ago I went to a seminar given by a well known photographer.  He presented a range of his images taken over many years and then started to ask a few questions of the audience.  One question that intrigued me was, "how many of your photographs do you print?"  This was quickly followed by, "when you do print your photographs, how large are the prints?".  It's not that long ago that pretty well all the photographs you took were printed ... and you got a new film thrown in when you collected your prints so you could create yet more prints!

Cactus at Auckland's Botanic Gardens.

At the time, I didn't pay much attention to these questions as the audience's response led the presenter to suggest shooting RAW at a high resolution was unnecessary.  I've always shot at the highest quality possible as  once the moment had passed there was no way I could repeat the shot so I did the best I could with the equipment and resources at hand.

Anyway, back to the first two questions.  I hardly print any of my images ...  and I take considerably more photographs now than I ever did when using film.  Some of my photographs come here on the blog for folks to see, others are saved to DVDs and then sent to family and friends so they can see them on their TVs, whereas others go to Flickr or other websites where they may be critiqued by fellow enthusiasts.

So, a question for you.  Do you print your photographs, and if you do, at what size?  I'd also be intrigued to know whether you'd buy somebody else's photograph and, if you would, why?  Haha!  Perhaps you'd buy some of mine :)

Succulent at Auckland's Botanic Gardens. 

Anyway, whilst pondering these thoughts I headed off for a walk to Totara Park ... a friend mentioned there was a lot of toadstools that may be worth a look.  It started off well, bu then the rains came.  I got a few shots ... but nothing with which I was pleased really.  The first shot in this post intrigued me.  Many of the toadstools were already sprouted and looking like toadstools, or they'd been partially devoured by slugs or other hungry creatures.  This wee white toadstool, however, was just emerging from the ground.  f2.8 allowed me to get a shallow depth of field and separate the emerging toadstool from the cluttered background.  The second shot is of a cactus at the Botanic Gardens.  I quite liked the spines ... hence the shot.  Final shot is a tight crop of a succulent, again at the gardens.  I really liked the spiral effect, water droplets from the earlier rain and the colours in the "leaves".

So, let me ask you something else.  Do you like the shots?  If you had a camera with you, would you take similar images?  If you did ... would you print them?

It's a slug!

Well, I now know at least one of the creatures that's devouring my toadstools.  Coming home tonight my daughter noticed a slug near the toadstools.  I quickly grabbed the camera and got a snap of the culprit!

I'm not altogether certain what type of slug this is.  We see more snails than slugs in general.  I'm also not convinced this creature is the one that has left the teethmarks ... but perhaps it did?  If you know more about the creatures that may be eating my toadstools, perhaps leave a comment.

Not the best.

Not the best of days today.  I had high hopes of it being a great day, but it all started going wrong with a couple of family members being a bit ill which meant we've remained at home.  Never mind ... at least we got the washing done!

Whilst at home I noticed some toadstools in the front yard.  From a distance they looked white and boring ... but get up close and they have quite a nice texture and pattern to them.

Front yard toadstool ... lovely patterns and textures.

Interesting.  When you stop to look at things instead of just taking a casual glance you see so much more.  You may remember me taking about this in a previous posts?   The picture from this earlier post has caused a bit of interest of late, and the poem ... well have a read and tell me what you think.

Are these teethmarks on the toadstool?  If they are ... who or what made them?

Back to the toadstools!  Besides the rather lovely patterns on their surfaces I noticed something else that made me smile.  Teethmarks!  Well, that's what they looked like to me.  Take a closer look at the second image in this post (click on the shot to get a larger version of the shot).  What do you reckon?  Teethmarks?  If they are ... who or what made them?

Somewhat fascinated with this discovery I started to look for more toadstools and came across the sight you see in the third image.  No toadstools ... but a hint that toadstools were there at one time.  Perhaps the toadstools in my yard are particularly tasty?  Can't say I'm ready to try them just yet, but I am intrigued as to whether they are edible and what creature has been having a bit of a nibble.  Can you tell me from the images if they'd be safe to eat?

Remains of two toadstools ... but what has been eating them?  Snails?  Hedgehog?

Back inside the house looking through the dining room window I noticed some lovely light on some strange flowers.  I still don't know what this plant is yet am sure somebody has told me.  The light was quite lovely, but then I noticed the flies and wasps.  Shame I don't have a macro lens.  These few shots were taken with a 50mm lens focussed as close as it would go at a wide aperture of f4 in an attempt to get a nice blurry background.  Click on the images to see them a little bigger and, if you know what the plant is called, perhaps add a comment so I'll be able to remember!

Flies enjoying the nectar ... did you notice the iridescent bug in the bottom right of the image? 

Wasps enjoying the nectar also.  Apparently at one time NZ didn't have any wasps ... they were introduced.