Category: Very Short Story

Big Skies and Temporary Insanity

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Again I find myself
In the throes of creating
Embracing insanity
A momentary freedom

Cover photo is simple stitched rendering of what was there.

There has been a tug to delve back into nut-job photography. Casting off all inclinations of truth and simply work with available colors, tones and shapes to make something “different.” Perhaps selfishly different, or just a thing that taps into fictional story telling.
Photographer Alessandra Chaves posted her reasons for hanging on to her Nikon D750. She nails it. https://alessandrachaves.com/2025/03/28/why-i-have-not-replaced-my-nikon-d750-yet/.
I would also add that Nikon realized the power behind digital photography. Their internal software allows for multiple exposures for up to ten frames. It also will average the exposures so that it does not blow out if done correctly.
Brilliant and powerful.
Imagine stacking images in-camera using long and fast shutters along with different focal lengths.
It had been awhile. I had to get reacquainted with the 750. It is a bit clunky and simple. That is its charm.
Unlike the Z mounts, it renders a RAW final output.
Brilliant.
This old addiction. Wants me again.

Nature Never Stops

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A baby quail was captured by accident

We’ve become very good
Pointing out where things stood
And how invasive things can be

The bigger picture will show
The offence and its blow
Points back to the speaker, that’s me

While trying to promote monarch butterflies and make video of their flight, I witnessed a hawk taking a young quail.
Nature can be brutal. What happened next was troubling…then satisfying.
The story:

AMBUSH

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Nature teaches us
Suspect every corner
Something may be waiting

Cover: Flower crab spider waits for his time.

As I traversed the trail up the hill, the remnants of an altercation with one of the quail revealed itself.

Cerveau de Monarque (Monarch Brain)

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It’s not ADHD
OCD
It’s not.
Is it?

Turkey, quail, coyote, lynx, mice, rabbit, deer, fox. They are all around here doing their life. I bring them around. Entice them so I can see them up close. Well, actually, most of them I don’t bring in. They just show up.
I had high hopes with mourning cloak caterpillars. Maybe I could document some of their life cycle. Then they scattered one night. Not to be seen again. Now it’s the monarch butterfly who’s piqued my interest.
We were gifted a milkweed at Christmas and managed not to kill it since then. I was in the middle of completely ignoring it when one afternoon I caught sight of a monarch circling the plant. Grabbed the FX30 and shot some footage and jpgs. The specimen graced the plant with some eggs and now we’re expecting.
Something new to read up on or “youtube” to get to the bottom of rearing the hopeful new grandkids…grandflies?
Anyway, as usual, I really don’t know anything. You start digging and pretty soon it’s all about propagating more milkweed. “You likely don’t have enough or “Watch out for this, be careful of that.”
It’s a rabbit hole alright.
We’ll see what happens next.

The FX30 is not a photo-centric camera, but it does ok. (No viewfinder…oy)

Still, with a little practice:

What I do like about the camera is 240FPS with 4:2:2 color. Float like a butterfly.