Multiple Organisms With the New Fuji HS10 Camera

Took the macro into the hills above the house today for some bug shots.

The two hour hike/climb highlighted all the advantages and disadvantages of this camera.

I shot this bee using the telefoto rather than the macro.

This was done with the macro. The level of detail is superb, but the camera has severe problems finding the object in the macro if the conditions aren't perfect.

After many tries I finally got a good shot of this beetle.

This one I took with the telefoto. Most of these shots, both macro and telefoto, I used the manual focus. There's a BEST FRAME function that does focus bracketing but I don't know how to use it yet. The manual focus is done with a ring and takes forever to focus. By the time you've switched the focus to manual and then twiddled the manual ring to bring the object into focus, it has flown off. Now imagine doing that for 30 seconds with arms at full extension and leaning over a cliff, trying to focus on a bug....camera shake is a problem for the manual focus, makes it harder to focus.

This one I shot with telephoto.

The landscape setting produces excellent shots.

A macro shot.

The discarded exoskeleton of a cicada larva, I think.

What would life be without a big spider? This giant was nearly as big as my hand. Also, enjoy a few seconds of forest sounds on video.

Taichung city, up close.

This local farmer and I have been bumping into each for years on the trail. Today he took me around to see some of the big spiders that had built webs in his fruit trees.

Portrait setting.

Caterpillar. The light problem occurred because of an annoying problem -- virtually all the Fuji HS10's functions require two hands to access. Hence while I was punching buttons and working the slow focus ring -- should be automated for speed -- even a caterpillar can move off its best shot. On my Canon Powershot almost all the functions I can work with my right thumb alone.

Spider on a leaf. Impressive detail in this one and the shot below.

Never seen this orange kind before. When the light is good the macro is superb.

Telephoto, with manual focus. Fortunately he sat still here for quite a while.

He placidly munched away, giving me plenty of time to shoot him.

One thing about these bug hunts is that they are getting harder -- the quantity and variety of bug life on the hills seems to be in decline, at least according to my perceptions, and I do not know why.

The husk of a large caterpillar.

Grasshoppers always appear to be eying you....

Spider on macro. Another issue with the powerful macro is that when you get as close as it permits, it scares the bug off.

The trail up.
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Wasp vs Spider

The incredibly warm winter has made spring come early, as many people have commented. The bugs are out, and the flowers are in bloom, so we've been hiking a lot lately. My kids and I do quite a bit of hiking on the ridges near our house. Here is Trail 8 in Ta-ken, now redone with those odious, unsafe logs all the way to the top from the little wooden bridge at the base of the peak. Sucks. It's so easy to blow out a knee or twist an ankle if your foot slips between them.

As we were walking up the path across a large mass of concrete that served as both sidewalk and retaining wall, my son noted a huge spider sitting on the concrete, unmoving. "Is it dead?"
"Maybe...." I said.
Then I saw the wasp.
"Nope! Paralyzed."
We watched as the wasp flew in, grabbed the still feebly moving spider, and tried to pull it into a drainage hole in the concrete further down.

Unfortunately it dropped the spider about 4 meters down the concrete face. It flew down to retrieve it....

....and I shot this video of the wasp dragging the spider, much larger than itself, back up the nearly sheer concrete face and onto the path again. For some reason known only to itself, it insisted on having the spider in that exact place on the path.

Eventually it would lose the hole, drop the spider again, and quarter the area for 15 minutes trying to find the hole. We left in the middle of the drama.

[Taiwan]

Hiking in Hsintien, New Years, 2009

A panorama of northern Taichung and Tanzi. Composite of four pictures.

Another year gone,and arrived, and Mark Forman and I decided to celebrate by dragging our kids along with us on a hike in Hsintien (previous hike, Dec 2007). Like most of the trails in the area, it climbs steeply to the ridgeline, where there are excellent views of Taichung to the west and Ta-ken and the Dongshih/Hsinshe area to the east. It's not as awesome as what you see on Pashan, but it is a good chance to chat and exercise. (click on any pic to be taken to its Flickr page).

The road up to the parking lot is a winding, narrow track.

Vendors were busy setting up as we arrived to park.

Not many butterflies this time of year, but we saw a few.

Some birds too....

My wife and daughter pose on the trail.

Which way to the Emerald City?

One reason I like living on a subtropical island is the profusion of flowers.

Mark, my son Sebastian, and his son Kevin converse as they walk.

Tiny now, but if it lives it will be bigger than my hand.

We stop to catch our breath at a small shrine, presumably wrecked in the 1999 quake.

It actually looks simpler and better like this.

Zeb and Kevin.

The viewing platform. The view was completely blocked by vegetation, but the bathrooms were nice.

Zeb points out our goal.

It was up the Endless Stair, to the summit of Zirak-zigal....

Ooops! Part of the trail had slid away. Fortunately the government had strung ropes there.

The kids pose.

These bugs are a common sight in the undergrowth.

Mark pauses on the stairs to catch a breath as Taichung looms in the distance.

At the top metal stairs shepherd you to...

...the great views.

Some of the locals had sensibly brought fruit to snack on. Of course they offered us some, with that incredible Taiwanese friendliness.

Mark Forman.

My wife Sylvia and my daughter Sheridan.

Homeward bound down the road.....

[Taiwan]