Will You Walk Into My Parlor?
One day last week I walked out of the gloom inside my head and over to the neighborhood park to enjoy some unexpected sunshine. I took my camera for a perspective shift, and meandered along the usual path, snapping pictures here and there of whatever I came across that seemed interesting.
We’d had a lot of rain in the days that came before, so not too many people were venturing off of the sidewalk and into the soggy grass. Intrepid explorer that I am, I’d worn my old duct taped sneakers for just such an occasion. I cut across the park to check out a copse of trees that I’d taken pictures of a few weeks previously, to see what new shapes they might make now that they were bare and shivery in the cold autumn sunlight.
But it was only when my camera turned back toward where I’d come from that I made the most amazing discovery.
At first it just seemed like the strangest play of sunlight on the grass, just a very vivid and peculiar reflection.
I thought water was the most obvious culprit. But then I’d just walked through it and noticed that the ground wasn’t as gloppy as I’d expected. I’m pretty sure I would have noticed puddles up to my ankles. Drawing a bit closer, I could see it shimmering, almost pulsating. In fact it seemed so otherworldly that for a wild moment I even considered alien involvement, in that brief disconnect as my brain weighed the evidence, rejecting and connecting, before finally making the logical, if still boggling, conclusion.
It was spider webs.
Shimmied by the wind, draped like a net to cover the grassy areas of the park. Probably all of it, but just the stretch revealed by the sudden sunlight was at least twenty feet across. Like something magical, if you walked right up to it and looked down you’d have trouble seeing it, even if you were looking. It took the combination of sun and light breeze and angle and distance to reveal the spiders’ secrets, their revelry in the dark solitude of a stretch of autumn gray.
And even then most of us walked right by it and through it, thinking it nothing more than an unusually shiny reflection. If we noticed it at all.
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beautiful…..i love spiderwebs….they are so amazing.
[Reply]
renee
3 Dec 09 at 5:49 pm
spiderwebs are remarkable and mesmerizing…why are the spiders so hairy and gross?
[Reply]
Leah
4 Dec 09 at 2:07 pm
That is so cool! I’m glad you got pictures to share. And that you were mindful enough to notice!
zenmomma´s last blog ..Snippet…probably NSFW*…
[Reply]
zenmomma
5 Dec 09 at 6:09 pm
Very very cool!
But I wouldn’t entirely rule out that alien theory…
Noisy Quiet´s last blog ..Dial Up
[Reply]
Noisy Quiet
8 Dec 09 at 12:12 pm
Aaaamazing!
[Reply]
Jacqui
15 Dec 09 at 7:48 pm
Oh, I’ve seen that! Very cool. Hey, I know you mentioned your new camera somewhere on here but I’ve lost the page. I’m going to be buying one (a GOOD one mind you) come summer, and I’m very interested in your thoughts. Your photos are so beautiful!
Linda´s last blog ..you know what I’m going to be when I grow up?
[Reply]
K. Reply:
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
Thank you, Linda! The post you’re looking for, I think, is this one:
http://www.ladenakaboom.com/ish/?p=2075
But then I can just tell you that my camera is a Canon EOS 450D / Digital Rebel XSi. I’m still only on the most basic point-and-shoot terms with it for the most part – we’re taking our relationship slow – but so far I love it. In the research I did beforehand it received very positive reviews, with the negative points seeming pretty minor in the larger scheme. It’s supposed to be a very big improvement over its predecessor (the XTi, I think?). The other camera I considered was it’s direct competitor, the Nikon D80, and I have to admit that most of the people I know have the Nikon and give it positive reviews. What gave the Canon the edge for me, I think, was that it’s supposed to be a little bit better under darker conditions, and that was the biggest pet peeve I had about my previous camera – it took beautiful pictures in the light of day, but even inside the house it was dark and grainy or needed the flash which was so strong it washed everything out.
Another big improvement on my last camera is how fast it is – I can’t count how many great shots I missed before because it took so long to take the picture, I always got the frame just after the really good shot. And I was just commenting to Shane the other night when we went to the Pepsi lights display that I can tell how good this camera is by the messed up pictures – I hardly throw anything out now, even the blurry pictures are so pretty they seem arty and intentional. ;P
Drawbacks – I’ve heard that the live view (which I haven’t even tried to use yet) isn’t very useful for a beginner. And the image stabilizer is in the lens, which I’ve heard spoken of as both a bonus and as a drawback, though I don’t remember enough to tell you why. I think having it in the lens is supposed to make it that much more stable, but it also costs more for the lenses. Something like that. If you have any questions, let me know!
[Reply]
Linda
21 Dec 09 at 8:24 am