Hey Blog! This week I have chosen to write about my photos, and the art of photography.
Photos are a way of seeing things long after they have happened, to show what people look like, capture a perfect moment, or to demonstrate your skill in the art of photography. Cameras have changed and become smaller over the years, allowing them to be carried more places. The most important change, however, has been digital photography, making hundreds of snaps possible. Now, we don’t even need to take the pictures at all, as trail cams can sense movement and take pictures on their own.
I started taking pictures when we got a little pink camera on a visit to the UK (we lived somewhere else then). We still have the camera, and it usually takes decent enough pictures, but not superb. Up till now all pictures on this blog have been taken either by it or a phone. This began my photographic journey, but it was not until I did a photo course last year that I took some good photos. Recently I have got back into photographing things, as the real kick-off was watching the mice, voles and shrews out the window. They were the perfect distance for a close shot, so we got the tripod and a very old black camera out. It is this camera with which I have taken all the photos for this week. Wildlife can be tricky to photograph, and quite often it moves, so most of these are things that can’t run away…
These are the photos I have chosen for this week’s post.
The one top left is a Violet Ground Beetle. These large beetles are common and nocturnal, and both larvae and adult eat smaller insects. The one top right is a tree trunk end with a type of bracket fungus growing on it; the one bottom left is a view of the woods, and the final one (bottom right) is bluebell shoots coming out of the ground. The big one below is one of the three wood mice we have in our garden. These wood mice are quite cute when their little heads poke out of the holes!
A few days ago we bought a make-it-yourself nature trail camera kit. This one only works in daylight, but is good all the same. The only good picture from this camera yet is at the bottom. It took a while to set up, and we had to try different types of housing for it, but it should be going well now. The company we bought it from is called “Pimoroni” and the website is: https://shop.pimoroni.com . I hope to have many visitors to the food pile in front of the camera, and if I get anything really interesting or exiting, I will be sure to share it with you.
What is the future of photography? Now we have movement-activated trail cameras, finish-line watchers, home security cams, and many others, we can still be pleased to have a hand-taken shot, of family, nature, or many other things; it’s still satisfying to hear the click of the camera.