Sunday, March 18, 2012

Pond Life Shows Spring Is Here

 
Dragonfly Larva, DMC-G3
Dragonfly Larva, by Reed A. George
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm
iso160, f5.8, 1/2000 sec
 
So, in my full-time job, I work for a biomedical research organization. One of our researchers studies the predator-prey behavior of dragonflies. It turns out, these guys are the ultimate predators of the insect world, and exhibit very complicated visual processing and use sophisticated guidance algorithms to intercept their flying prey in mid air.
 
Okay, by now you're wondering "What the heck does this have to do with photography?" Well, our scientists gather dragonfly larvae, like the one above, from the ponds on our campus. I got the opportunity to enjoy a little warm spring weather, and photograph them in action.
 
 
Collecting, by Reed A. George
Collecting, by Reed A. George
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm
iso160, f5.5, 1/500 sec
 
While they were collecting, we started to notice what we thought were frogs singing to each other. They turned out to be toads, Eastern American Toads (Anaxyrus americanus americanus), which were quite amorous, and the singing led to other things.
 
 
Singing, by Reed A. George
Singing to the Girls, by Reed A. George
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm
iso160, f5.8, 1/500 sec

I love how you can see the vibrations in the water in the shot above. In the shot below, a pair are breeding. The helical black strands that you see in the picture below are the fertilized eggs.

Breeding Pair, by Reed A. George

Breeding Pair, by Reed A. George
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm
iso160, f5.8, 1/500 sec
 
On this particular day, the boss got selected to spend an hour in one of the staff's shoes (waders). As you can see below, he had a pretty good time out wading around in the pond.
 
Good Day, by Reed A. George
A Good Day at Work, by Reed A. George
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm
iso160, f5.8, 1/500 sec
 
It's nice to see that Spring is here.
 
DMC-365.blogspot.com
 

2 comments:

  1. And the boss was not pushed in? Amazing!!!

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  2. I would have pushed you, if I'd had my waterproof camera, and could afford to get muddy myself... :)

    Reed
    DMC-365.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete