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Patterns
Nature the designer, has a way with patterns. Some may be well defined or repeated while others may be completely random.
240 million years in the making, the exquisite detail of a polished ammonite fossil.
Each zebra has it’s own particular stripe design. I admire the way the pattern down the backbone to the tail merge.
Feathers, the repeating spots of a guinea fowl offers good camouflage.
This post is in response to WordPress’ Weekly Photo Challenge. For more information on the topic pop over to the site for Sara Rosso challenge
Tricoloured Tiger Moth
I always like solving a good mystery and recently i had the chance to connect these dots …..
It’s quite startling that this hairy orange caterpillar is the larva of the elegantly patterned Tricoloured Tiger moth. The eggs it lays look so much like small seed pearls, and out erupt these hairy little critters. In our garden we have a policy of catch and release (banished to the wilderness) particularly when it comes to the hungry hordes of the caterpillar league; and this is one worm that the birds tend to avoid!
Weekly Photo Challenge: From Above
Showing a rugged exterior, this is the topside of the shell.
The inner layers, capturing the contours of ‘mother-of-pearl’ lining a perlemoen (abalone) shell.
An Autumn Brew
A pending storm brings a strange translucent light.
Time for the setting sun.
The sea swirls in cast opalescence.
Riding high.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Culture
The Huli wigmen of the Tari Highlands preserve a traditional way of life in the mountain villages.
Sing Sing gatherings are celebrations of dance and song.
Not many hunter, gatherer cultures survive in this 21st century.
A few isolated societies are able to resist change and maintain their cultures. The Himba. The Himba are semi-nomadic pastoralists. Here a remote camp of the Opuwo region of Namibia protect the rights of the Himba to preserve their way of life.
The Tuvalu, or Gilbertese people of Tabuaeran, Kiribati Republic (of Micronesian descent) are famous for their hospitality. Here we were guests treated to dancing and a feast of note.
Pacific Islanders of Micronesian descent have a rich culture of song and dance.
This week’s photo challenge “Culture” is set by photographer, Aaron Joel Santos, who is based in Hanoi, Vietnam. I took a look at his blog and website as his challenge was to pose “curiosity”. His comments set an interesting challenge :
Culture is a bit of a loaded word. In a photograph, it can embody everything and nothing. So where do we draw the line? Shopping culture, hippy culture, Asian culture, Thai culture, ancient culture, and on and on. These phrases have different meanings. For me, as a working travel photographer, being able to show culture, in all of its various guises, is crucial to the success of an image.
There are obvious elements that go into making a great photograph: perspective, color, contrast, subject matter, and lighting, to name a few. But for this challenge, go for that little something extra — that piece of the image that makes a viewer want to see more — to delve deeper into the culture you’re photographing. I’ve always said that I want my photographs to make people curious. So that is your assignment here: inspire curiosity with your photography.
It set me thinking about the broad aspects of the subject, and to “context culture”, where geography and history provide a context for understanding the differences between cultures. Curious? What do the Huli wigmen of Papua New Guinea, the Himba people of Namibia and the Tuvalu people of Tabuaeran have in common?
False Bay: Autumn’s alchemy
The first of the Cape’s seasonal Nor’westerly storms came barging in this week bringing strong winds of up to 70 km/h, battering the city and dropped 50mm of rain in just 24 hours. But this morning False Bay was wreathed in gold as an autumn dawn spread it’s magical touch. The birds were up bright and early with the claxon call of the Egyptian geese cutting through the morning’s quiet harmony. They’re broody at the moment, and two pairs are vying for territorial rights. Testy for sure and with their heightened decibel levels letting the whole world know. Less insistent and more melodious were the varied calls of the sunbirds, wagtails, blacksmith lapwing, prinia, hadedah ibis, but yet there was something else…… a plaintive, bleating call – much like a small child crying …..
Autumn’s golden rays herald in the day.
The Egyptian geese lose no time in getting going at first light.
Keen foragers, check over the intertidal zone.
Foraging for ‘greens’.
Sea lettuce.
Simple green, nutritious algae.
The oyster catchers have a distinctive call, a ‘beebah’ siren call.
An exhausted young seal pup mewls quietly as it struggles with exhaustion.
Cape fur seals pups are weaned by nine months, but remain vulnerable at this young age.
One that didn’t make it. There tend to be more seal casualties when the seas turn rough and stormy.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Up
The subject for this week’s photo challenge is “Up” and Sara Rosso has posted an example of a spectacular shot of buildings reaching high into the blue sky. She poses the challenge as being either a direction, an orientation or even a movement. I’ve chosen to use the latter in a tilt shot using an upward movement. Here a golden dawn lights up a copse of pine trees.
Penguin Chicks: From Fluff to Tuxedo
For the African Penguin parenting is a serious task, both male and female must take turns to provide a constant supply of food to feed their chicks. As they grow their appearance changes from cute fluffball through a period of looking quite seedy as their chick down is gradually replaced by sleek gray/blue feathers. They fledge within 60 – 120 days and leave the colony to make it on their own, spending a period of between twelve and twenty-two months out at sea before returning to their natal colony to molt into their adult plumage.
Fluffy, nearly three months old.
Looking a little moth-eaten as the fluff falls away.
Siblings nearing fledging.
Checking out the water.
Flipper workout, adjusting for sea.
Almost time to leave the colony and make it out in the big world of sea.
The sleek and slick adult penguin, with a well oiled , waterproofed tuxedo.
This post is in response to WordPress’ Weekly Photo Challenge: Change. Pop over to the WordPress site for further posts on this subject.
A Jumping Spider, Dancing Butterflies.
The chill of autumn has started to bite signalling a change of seasons and right on cue are sightings of the beautiful velvety Cape Autumn Widow butterflies. Hundreds can be see hovering above the grassy banks along my coastal hiking path. Dainty creatures flitting to and fro. The reference book says that they will deposit their larvae eggs amongst the kikuyu and low shrubs. I’ve began to suspect that hordes of caterpillars will soon be descending into my seaside garden. Only plants of a hardy nature thrive next to the coast and one of the species that does well is statice, or sea lavender. The fine, lacy flowers come in shades of blue, lilac and pink and they are prized as cut flowers for their ‘everlasting’ quality. Whilst the flowers have an almost papery texture, the leaves are a power house of green vitality. Of all the plants in the garden these are the ones which are mercilessly munched down to the stems and in the past a bristly caterpillar has been the culprit. I’ve not been able to track down the identity, but have a very strong suspicion that they are the offspring of those gorgeous dancing butterflies. Already there are the signs as tiny, skinny worms appear by the day. Investigating further i discovered to my surprise that Salticidae – Jumping spiders have also taken up residence. Known for their acrobatic flying stunts, they’re dubbed the bungee jumpers of the arachnid family. Attached by silk strands they’re able to launch into the air after flying insects and should they fluff it they able to return safely along their shoot lines. They’re also equipped with four pairs of eyes for excellent all-round vision. Would it be that they’ll be tempted to a juicy fat worm or two? I wonder?
The handsome Widow, note the orange and blue spots.
The papery bracts of lilac statice.
A voracious appetite.
The most delectable leaves.
Larvae hatch.
The acrobat, Salticidae – the Jumping Spider.
Poised and ready to jump. Note the two pairs of frontal eyes, another two appear laterally.
