I thought I'd try a panorama today.

This photo was taken while walking around Lake of the Isles.  Like yesterday's photo, it was made using my 4GB Canon G3.  What attracted me was the line of geese heading towards the city, which gives the image multiple planes of depth.  However, cameras take photos in a 2x3 ratio, which, in this case, resulted in a lot of boring sky and boring foreground water.  The obvious solution was to crop off the top and bottom thirds, leaving only the parts of interest.  The panoramic format also has the advantage of adding a sense of dynamism/scope (which is why movies went to widescreen).

Note:  The website doesn't provide good printing options for panoramas.  Contact me directly if you'd like to order one.

This is one of the first photos I ever took...with a digital camera.  And, for a long time, it was a mystery.

As I mentioned yesterday, I try to never go for a walk without a camera of some sort since I've missed too many great shots for just that reason.  I bought a Canon G3 to remedy the situation (still have and use it, by the way) and to break into the world of digital.  This is easy to carry around, fairly small (compared to an SLR) and can take nice (if, by today's standards, small) photos.

So, once the camera arrived, out I went for a walk around Lone Lake.  I don't remember what I shot that day before this, so they were mostly playing around to see how the camera worked.  At the end of the path there is a building that holds the rest rooms, water fountains, maintenance equipment, etc.  It also tends to collect different types of insects.  This was one of them.  A nice, fuzzy moth with interesting patterns.  So, I took the photo and never saw one again. 

And then tried to find out what it was.  And tried some more.  And asked people.  And tried to look in butterfly/moth books, but I don't know enough about moths to describe structures and there are LOTS of moths that are tannish/brownish/furry/patterned.  For over 10 years I tried to figure this out.  Finally, and I don't remember where, I saw someone else's image of a moth that looked like mine.  So I did some quick searches and discovered that this is a gypsy moth.  Mystery Solved!  and I guess it's a good think I never saw another :)

Gypsy Moth

Several years ago, I was walking around Lone Lake when I saw something unexpected on the path.  A snapping turtle.  A fairly large snapping turtle.  And nowhere near water.  And just sitting there (or lying or relaxing or whatever the proper term is).

Since I had learned many years before not to go for a walk without a camera handy (since the best photo ops always occur when you don't have the means to capture them), I was prepared and managed to take as many shots as I wanted.  I think this one was the best as it shows the size of the claws, the texture of the skin and the eyes that are prepared for what may come next.

snapperI came upon this snapping turtle while going for a walk in a local park. It was nice enough to stay fairly still so I could work to get some good images.