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Money for nothing

29/9/2013

Would you entering a bakery, walking to the display cases full with bread rolls and asking the shop assistant for a free bread roll? Probably not.

For the umpteenth time, this week I received an email through my contact form with the request to deliver images for nothing. As I lost hope some time ago, I mentioned in three languages that I will not give away my digital files for free. So I do not understand why people (mostly design offices) still contacting me for free photo material......it’s rude behaviour as I have to pay for my camera’s and lenses too! Next to the financial investment, some images, sequences costs me a lot of time.

When I returned from my appointment last friday, the sun was shining so I tried to photograph an emerging Painted Lady. For hours I was sitting outside and waited but nothing happened. I think the air temperature was too low as I was frozen. This is almost the ‘normal’ course for photographing transformation processes: waiting and freezing for nothing. Yesterday I gave it an other try but this time inside behind the window. Due to the warmth both chrysalises emerged almost at the same time and the second butterfly moved so hard to emerge that he fell out of the chrysalis......

I rendered first aid and after the butterfly hang again he pumped blood into his wings to inflate them and two hours later he was flying into freedom.

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Pillow Talk

20/9/2013

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While the last two caterpillars of the Swallowtail will transform into a chrysalis soon, I discovered some new caterpillars. It wasn’t difficult to find them as I was wondering where my Kale plants were gone.....a few weeks ago I received them as a present for my vegetable garden with beautiful green leaves.

It’s a kind of relief seeing that the larval stages of butterflies preferring my vegetables but I’m afraid that having my own big vegetable garden in France one day will be a challenge as I’m not able to kill caterpillars.

These are caterpillars of the Small White in the 2nd caterpillar stage and measures about 1 cm….except the newborn caterpillar.

This image is taken with the special macro lens from Canon, the MP-E 65 mm with a 3,5 x magnification at F16.

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Dreams

14/9/2013

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All my life
Is changing every day
In every possible way

In all my dreams
It's never quite as it seems
Never quite as it seems

On 'Everybody Else Is Doing It, so Why Can’t We' the beautiful song 'Dreams' describes the mood I'm in. Last week a lot has happened and everytime I'm surprised by what people are capable of. I feel 'smashed' like this deceased Red Admiral.

And oh my dreams
It's never quite as it seems
Cause you're a dream to me
Dream to me

© The Cranberries

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ANGRY!!!!!

6/9/2013

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I'm angry and I feel helpless! Angry because beautiful nature has been ruined and helpless because I do not know how to change the situation.

The past weeks, due to the summer weather, I found a lot of beautiful butterflies near the creek and ditches in the middle part with the little lake. As it is a small area and situated near a village in the evening it's often crowded. A few weeks ago, two men were busy to train their dogs in the little lake. Bye bye waterfowls!

While I was in a kind of mourn mood, I noticed a guy with a dog who was fishing in the little lake. As I thought that it was forbidden, I started a conversation with this very strange guy and I was surprised to hear that he has a permission. A permission to fish in the creek and the little lake.

After five years I have seen the light.....the complete investment for the creek recovery was not meant to create new nature, no it was meant to create a new recreation area! I AM ANGRY!!!!

Regularly I visit the 'Kleine Beerze', a small area which has been transformed/recovered in 2009. Entering the area, signs from 'Natuurmonumenten' gives the impression that it is a protected area but that is just an illusion. I assume that 'they' only use the signs to warn visitors for the Highland Cattle and not because 'they' care for nature.

This morning I was there to photograph a Small Heath and found also some caterpillars of the Painted Lady on Creeping Thistle. This evening I returned but got scared at first sight of the area. Somebody mowed the area on a destructing way. All the flowers, all the grasses with butterflies were gone. Bye bye butterflies, bye bye spiders, bye bye dragonflies, bye bye grasshoppers, bye bye caterpillars, bye bye hiding places for all the other birds and mammals.

This is a part of the creek/area on 3 september 2013 when nothing was wrong.

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Swallowtail (Papilio machaon)

2/9/2013

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From a neighbour I received the information that he saw some Swallowtails on a carrot field....and when there are Swallowtails, there are caterpillars.
Unfortunately this carrot field was recently treated with poison so last Friday I could not find a single sign of life on it. I remembered an other carrot field near a forest not far away. Fortunately this carrot field was full of life.....birds, other insects, spiders and marks of Beech Martens......and caterpillars of the Swallowtail. Most of the caterpillars which I found were little and black (1st or 2nd caterpillar stage).
As this field was not treated with poison yet, I took some green carrot leaf back home to feed the caterpillars.
On my kitchen table (in a special box for caterpillars) they are eating, eating and eating and it's amazing how quick they grow when they have no cold night temperatures.
As some of them almost have reached their last caterpillar stage, I used them as a photo model when they were resting.

I started with my 'normal' 180 mm macro lens and tried to create a kind of surrealistic caterpillar image with a lens opening of F 3.5.
The second caterpillar was resting on a carrot stalk and I photographed him with the MP-E 65 mm lens. On the second photo I used a 2 x magnification with a lens opening of F 13 and a shutter time of 4 seconds. On the third photo I tried a 3 x magnification with again a lens opening of F 13 and a shutter time of 8 seconds. With 8 seconds it was difficult (not impossible) to get a sharp photo as the caterpillar was moving sometimes or one of my cats came around to cuddle with my tripod.

In a few days the first caterpillars will transform into a chrysalis and I hope that I will be lucky to photograph this process again as this is one of het most amazing events in a butterfly life!

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Money for nothing

Pillow Talk

Dreams

ANGRY!!!!!

Swallowtail (Papilio machaon)

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