Shadow Shots: In Honor of John Pep Panelli

It struck as sweet and poignant, this gentle butterfly poised on a memorial stone, its fragile wings shading the name of a loved one.

Curious, I Googled the honoree, John Pep Panelli, and was surprised when I actually found him: John Panelli, Man of Action. He was a fullback at Notre Dame from 1945-1948, and according to the article he was "a fast and very cagey runner, a smashing blocker and a 'savage' tackler on defense. When Panelli hit them 'they stayed hit'."

You gotta love the irony.

Click the badge for more shadows at Tracy's place, Heyharriet:

Shadow Shots: Long Hare

A grumpy-looking rabbit and a Saturday grin:


A policeman stops a guy for reckless driving. He peers intently into the driver's eyes and says, "Your eyes look bloodshot. Have your been drinking?"

The guy peers back into the policeman's eyes and says, "Your eyes look glazed. Have you been eating donuts?"

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Drops of Jupiter

Now that she's back in the atmosphere
With drops of Jupiter in her hair
She acts like summer and walks like rain
Reminds me that there's a time to change

- Tell Me, Train

As you may have noticed from previous shots, I've recently been to the zoo. My primary objective was the butterfly exhibit, a temporary collection of exotics let loose in a greenhouse, and I'd been looking forward to shooting there for months.

I had no idea what I'd be up against.

These are tropical creatures from Africa and South American rain forests, so the habitat was set for 90 degrees and 85 percent humidity. My lens fogged up. Sweat stung my eyes. Misters kept going off unexpectedly, threatening my camera with ruin.

Plus, the butterflies refused to pose, preferring to float and flutter in a completely inconsiderate and unpredictable fashion.

In short, I was grumpy and distracted and frustrated. Nearly all of my hasty shots were out of focus, and I came away feeling like I'd been well and truly roughed up.

Still, a few images were keepers. Now that I know what to prepare for, I'm considering a second attempt. Wish me better luck next time.

There are more butterflies this week at Carly's Monday Photo Shoot: Butterflies.

PhotoHunt: Backwards

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but this time I couldn't resist.

Check out the other entries at tnchicks: PhotoHunt

Shadow Shots: Gossip, Rumor, and Inuendo

"Psssst! Did you hear what Hattie the Hippo said she overheard Zelda the Zebra telling Barny the Bison about Otis and Olive the Otters? Well, you know I've said from the start that there was something fishy about those two. So it comes as no surprise to me that ... "

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Shadow Shot: Split Personality

Click the badge and join the fun at Heyharriet's:

Bada Bing, Bada BOOM!

I never miss fireworks if I can help it. Love the ooooh. Adore the ahhhh. Shiny. I look forward to the July 4 shows every year. Every year I take photos. Every year they sucked. Until now.

Thanks to this New York Institute of Photography article: How to Photograph Fireworks, this year's photos did not suck. Not winning any prizes yet, but a vast improvement over the overexposed, colorless blobs of days gone by.

Between that article and the camera's instruction manual I plucked up the nerve to shoot in manual mode for the first time. Chose my own settings and everything. Even discovered the BULB setting. (It lets you hold open the shutter for as long as you like.)Who new that was in there?

I maybe shouldn't have used the long lens. It made it difficult or impossible to get everything into the frame. On the other hand, I did get some nicely detailed close-up shots, so what the hey. (And yes, I left the camera bag and lens at home. What with the cooler, the lawn chairs, the tripod, bug spray, jackets ... don't start with me.)

There are fireworks all over the place in the summer, from amusement parks to baseball games, so I thought I'd pass along that link. It certainly helped me. Enjoy.

P.S. Here's the set so far on Flickr: Fireworks. Please enlarge them to see them at their best, OK?