It's... it's...

A flower!!!!!

Ok, yeah, I did that bit yesterday. This particular pointless flower photo, though, comes with an extra. If you look very carefully at this partially open narcissus you should see a speck at the edge of one of the petals. I can tell you (since I was there) that the speck is actually...

Wait for it...




A spider, yes. A very tiny spider, but a spider nonetheless.

Should I explain the spider thing for those who are new to the program? Sure, why not. It'll fill some space, if nothing else.

I like taking snapshots of spiders.

No particular reason.

Well, there is a reason of sorts, but it's not the one that most people expect. I suppose that it would be normal to assume that someone who spends altogether too much time hunting down spiders just to take their pictures would, in fact, be very fond of spiders.

Not me.

I mean, I do like spiders. They're fascinating creatures. I talked (ad nauseum) on the old blog about finding beauty in functionality, and spiders have functional beauty in spades. A spider's entire anatomy reflects its lifestyle, really. No wasted parts there. I like that in an animal.

For those who are new to the program, I should say that I have a bit of a weird enthusiasm for comparative anatomy. Call it a hangover from the university days.

Anyway, I like spiders, but it's not why I take (pointless) spider photos. My two fans have heard this before, but I like challenging my camera to take pictures of things that the autofocus thinks it can't see.

It's sort of an odd game I play with myself. Outwit the Camera.






Hey, I never said it was a good game. I just happen to like it, that's all.

The spiders came into the whole stupid camera tricks thing a bit later. I was doing a spider project at work a few years ago and needed some reference pictures, so I started looking more carefully for spiders. After doing that for a few months you start noticing spiders just about everywhere whether you want to or not. It became sort of a mini-obsession for a while. I learned more about spiders than I ever really thought I would.

Like just about everyone else in my life I thought the whole spider thing would be over once I finished the display, but it never quite went away.

So I take spider photos.

Lots of spider photos.





I like to take pictures of flowers, too.

No particular reason.








Well, there is a reason of sorts, but...