Sunday, July 7, 2013

Surprise is a Gift & Posts of the Week

Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us. ~ Boris Pasternak


Every photographer has had this experience. You snap an image of a flower or plant and only when processing the photos on your monitor, do you notice that there is a distinct little bug walking or flitting across your subject, making for a more interesting picture than you first envisioned. The images below are mostly like that. I hope you enjoy them.

sunlit growth with bee
I was trying to get the tiny yellow buds of this plant into focus with the setting sunlight shining from behind it. Later when I enlarged the image, I saw the back end of a bee exploring the flower.





tadpoles
Maybe someone more experienced with aquatic life than I am can tell me what I'm seeing here - aside from the dark tadpoles, that is. Look near the top, just left of center. What is that green eye looking back at me? Is it a more advanced tadpole-near-frog or a small water snake? Or is it just some debris and my overactive imagination?




daisy bud with ant
A still-unopened daisy with an ant crawling along its base.




weed flower with red bug2
A little red spider hurries along the petals of a tiny weed flower reminiscent of a small morning glory.





macro flower green bug
A wild looking spiky looking blossom sports an unusual little green bug.





bee in a bloom2
This bee actually came into view while I was snapping a photo of the tiny pink blossoms. It was a surprise at the time but not later, when processing.

And now - another surprise - the Posts of the Week. I had collected more of them than I thought so I figured I'd better share them sooner rather than later. Some of them go back a fair way since I haven't posted any since the end of May. There are twice as many as usual so take your time, but do visit and leave a kind comment so that they know their posts were enjoyed.

And now, without further delay, here are the Posts of the Week. The icon below is yours for the taking if if your blog post is named as a POTW.







 TOUGH STUFF

Thursday, June 20, 2013
by Charlie
at Floods, Sweat and Tears



***

PHINE PHOTOGRAPHY

Provins
by Daryl
at Through My Eyes


Dragon Boat Training
by Andy
at Eye Candy



Red-necked Grebe Nest
by Red
at HiawathaHouse

***

A GOOD READ

Gay Marriage and Your Health
by Crabby
at Cranky Fitness


A Regular Guy From Jersey
by Dianne
at Forks off the Moment


The Life I Love is Making Music With My Friends
by Chariskalee
at How My Song Goes



In My Day
by Joeh
at Cranky Old Man

Tips From My Mom
by Gary
at Follow Your Bliss
 

Fathers or Something Like That
by Brian
at Waystationone

In My Father's Footsteps
by Pauline
at Writing Down the Words

Urban Diary
by A Cuban in London
at Un Cubano en Londres

***

JUST PLAIN ENJOYABLE

My Parallel Rope Walk Experience
by Indrani
at I Share


Super Moon Walk
by Leave it to Davis
at Leave it to Davis



On the Day You Were Born
by Lauren
at Mental Pause Mama

Rural Toy
by Indrani
at I Share

How to Do Summer
by Sandy
at Writing in Faith


***

GOOD IDEA

Camping Clean!
by Bag Lady
at Bag Lady's Blather


*** 
 
Please drop by their blogs for a visit and leave a kind comment if you have the time. Also, please feel free to add your own choices (for any blog except this one) for a specific blog post in the comments section below, where others can see them.

Thank you


33 comments:

Brian Miller said...

thank you hilary...smiles...that one is special...ran into another of my old kids today too...we're going fishing together next week...

love your pics...the one of the green bug on the blossom in particular...love the little life you capture...

have a great sunday...smiles.

Indrani said...

Wow! Two of mine here! Great feeling! Thank you! :)

Almost for got to mention how I was admiring your pics. Great captures Hilary!

Dave said...

It is interesting to find what is unintentionally in our photos when we come to process them Hilary. I like to use a high pixel setting which allows photos to be enlarged for this reason. I think I copied this idea from you a while back - Dave

Linda at To Behold The Beauty said...

These images are all lovely. As for the "eye," my eyes aren't so good...but could it be a snail?

joeh said...

Love the photos...you are good!

THe green eye...maybe a hungry bird?

messymimi said...

Such surprises are probably part of the joy of your work.

All of them are lovely and interesting.

TexWisGirl said...

i love all of your surprise finds. my guess on the mystery creature would be a more advanced tadpole/frog-ite. :)

will have to tag this for visiting POTWs later!

TexWisGirl said...

oops. made a few quick visits and noticed indrani's 'rural toy' doesn't have a good link. :)

Betty Manousos said...

LOVE THESE! simply stunning, hilary wow!!great work on the lighting.
thanks for brightening my day!

big hugs

Red said...

Thanks for the grebes post for the post of the week!!!It's always a surprise to find yourself on POTW.

Your post on little surprises is so true. Now do one on all the other debris that shows up like blades of grass that go across a bloom.

Misty DawnS said...

Love the surprise photos! I think the second one looks like a frog among the tadpoles... I tried to enlarge it to see better but couldn't. So, just picture me holding my laptop *really close* to my face. LOL

Gary said...

Thank you so much Hilary for including my quiet little blog on POTW! The Tips From My Mom posts are particularly special to me so it's nice that you connected with it. I appreciate your kindness in encouraging others to pop over and comment. I look forward to visiting the other blogs as well.

The "surprise" pictures are lovely. One of these days I want to get some tadpoles in my classroom. What an amazing transformation!

Gary said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I love all the little surprises in your photos. I love when that happens to me, too, especially now that my eyesight isn't what it once was. Sigh. I'm off to work but can't wait to go down your list of POTW. Thank you and congrats to all of them!

Rosaria Williams said...

Always a pleasure visiting with you and your pics.

Out on the prairie said...

I love those little surprises. I shot pelicans all day and laughed seeing a fox across the lake watching me when I never saw it while shooting.

Linda said...

I think that is a snake checking the lunch menu. Hmmm, today's special is fresh, young tadpole - sushi style.

J Graham said...

LOVE the surprises. Your photos, as usual, are equisite.

And the best surprise was being included in your POTW list, thank you so much!

--Crabby (signed in on wrong account)

Pauline said...

You capture the minutia so beautifully!

Thanks again for the mention - you are very generous to me!

Leah J. Utas said...

I am most intrigued by that eye.

yaya said...

I'm not always fond of "surprises" but these were delightful! If that is a snake, he's in for a big tadpole dinner! I couldn't help but think how much life goes on around us that we are totally unaware of..and how fun that you captured some of it..like a secret world! In the last bee pic I smiled looking at the little pollen bonnet on it's head! Super cool shots!

Joanna Jenkins said...

For sure that little red spider is the sweetest thing ever-- So delicate. It's a beautiful photo and must have made you smile when you first saw it. I definitely did.

Thanks for the great reading suggestions. I'm going to spend my evening checking them out.

xo jj

Leave It To Davis said...

Been so busy with boys moving in and out and weddings that I almost missed you saying my post was *gulp* worth reading!! I have tears in my eyes. I kept seeing something about potw....and Hillary...and all the sudden, it dawned on my why people were visiting my Moon Walk again. YOU. Thank you, so much, my dear blogging friend. You will never know how very sincere I am when I say this means the world to me coming from you! It's like Pavarotti telling Mr. Rogers he enjoys him singing, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood....". Seriously. From the bottom of my meek heart, thank you.

Anvilcloud said...

Another fine group of macros.

Daryl said...

thank you .. what a lovely surprise ... i have been hibernating since last Weds ....

Frank Baron said...

I think that little "eye" you see is a bit of emerging plant life that has just broken the plane of the water. The glistening and angle of light is what I think is tricking your eye into seeing another. :)

Anonymous said...

I love when I get those surprise "models" in a shot, and yours are great, especially that water intruder. Sure does look like a little snake to me!

photowannabe said...

Love your surprises in the photos.
I really don't think you ever take a "bad" picture.
I also love your choices for POTW.
There are some choice stories there.

Lynne with an e said...

Each photo in this series is an absolute delight! Lovely little cameos on the big screen by tiny critters. I'm usually put off by the presence of bugs crawling all over my prospective picture, but your examples (though not necessarily intended to include bugs)have opened my eyes to the natural beauty of their inclusion.

sage said...

I always enjoy looking though your eyes!

Unknown said...

Well, Hilary, I haven't experienced this yet. My camera crapped out and I had to ship it back to Canon. But when it returns I'll hopefully post some cool stuff too. These are wonderful discoveries, and I'll check out some new blog buds! :)

Sandi McBride said...

Even as I was looking at the tadpoles my brain was screaming "SNAKKKKE"...as a Daughter of Mary, the enmity between the serpent and woman runs rampant in me, lol...lots of great reads here...thanks
hugs
Sandi

chariskalee said...

what an honor Hilary! Thank you for making my whole month :) And thanks for sharing my story. Means a lot!