it is very very hard to use a 48x zoom plus a macro filter and capture still shots like these.

The above drop of water is one sixteenth of an inch across.  or about the size of this letter o.
you are supposed to use a tripod, and a timer, and not touch the camera at all.

However.....

it's more fun to try and do it without a tripod.

I took these yesterday lying out in the grass by a clover patch.

I got a macro filter from a very nice person in England who does macro photography

these are tiny white wild onion flowers.  If you pull them up, there is a tiny onion bulb on the bottom just above their roots.  The onion is less than a quarter inch across.  They are kind of like wild chives.  These are the first signs of spring on the Gulf Coast.  They bloom in February.

ephiphany

time is a funny thing. it never goes anywhere. it's
invisible. it doesn't make any noise. it has no weight or volume. it has no feel
or feeling.

but it changes everything.

something I just thought of and posted on matthu's xanga, and realized I'd just created a saying. so I posted it here also.

Here's a shot I took today using the new macro filter given to me by a kind photographer in England. These dewdrops were still hanging on to this tiny plant at noon, under the picnic table -- long after the other drops had been absorbed by plant and soil.

This is a baby fisher spider -- they grow to be about two inches in diameter, with legspan.  This one was not even half an inch across. 

I am going to keep practicing with the filter to get up really really close inside the dewdrop.  I hope I can do it with this filter I've been given.  I love dewdrop photography. It's amazing to capture the world seen inside a dewdrop.  This is not a good shot.  I've seen some absolutely amazing ones done by people.

Here's some advice I just wrote to someone.

Now I am going to give it to myself, and anyone else who reads it. It's good advice.

Each day, we strive to move forward, accomplishing our goals. In so doing, keep
a vertical axis always. Goals can sometimes hide the path to the
vertical axis. or they can facilitate it. It all depends on what goals
you have, and what precidence they take before Heaven. Daily business
of accomplishing necessary things has done in many a person. Clarity
counts.

That does not mean you are not doing "right" now. It
means always be aware of the true priority of things. In the melee of
life, busy-ness can often cloud eternal goals and priorities, since
immediate goals give us a sense of purpose and fulfillment, and we may
not notice that their purpose or fulfillment is not based on the
eternal goals of Cheon Il Guk.

I got the I- Ching on my Google home page, and I asked it, "What am
I supposed to do with my life now? Please be specific"

Pi / Grace

 
 above Kên
Keeping Still, Mountain
 
 
 below Li
The Clinging, Flame
 

The Judgement

Grace has success.
In small matters
It is favorable to undertake something.

The Image

Fire at the foot of the mountain:
The image of Grace.
Thus does the superior man proceed
When clearing up current affairs.
But he dare not decide controversial issues in this way.

The Lines

Nine at the beginning means:
He lends grace to his toes, leaves the carriage, and walks.

52. Kên / Keeping Still, Mountain

 
 above Kên
Keeping Still, Mountain
 
 
 below Kên
Keeping Still, Mountain
 

The Judgement

Keeping Still. Keeping his back still
So that he no longer feels his body.
He goes into the courtyard
And does not see his people.
No blame.

The Image

Mountains standing close together:
The image of Keeping Still.
Thus the superior man
Does not permit his thoughts
To go beyond his situation.

You know what is amazing?

We are all purer right now than at any other time in our entire lives.

We are purer right now than on the day we were born.  We have to really

strive to keep that purity.  It's such an unbelievably precious gift.  I

feel a broken part of me was healed, though the wound still feels a

small amount of anguish, it is no longer gushing and infected.

I am so going to hell...

I'm doing these as a study for a storybook illustration of some sunflowers standing around, thinking sunflower thoughts. I'm going to make it a lil bit dark in humor by having one of them holding the vase below under his leaf-arm.  I'll illustrate the bottle, tho, I wont use the photograph

that way people can stop and think about how flowers must feel when we chop off their heads and stick them in a vase!

art is fun.