Seeing 2011 (#114)

For your consideration: an intimate portrait of an species which figured large in my childhood . . .

I had an aunt, one Mrs. Marguerite Tonyan née Vick, who being tiny in stature was universally addressed as "Dot." My aunt Dot had an iron will, quick wit, suffered fools but little and could be both deeply compassionate and blindingly stubborn — and was the sanest person in our entire neurotic family tree.

She also had a love of ladybugs, and decorative examples could be found perched in various places in her home (mostly on the refrigerator, or "ice box" as our family still called that appliance). Thus when I think of ladybugs nostalgically warm memories of aunt Dot make quiet visits.

Ladybugs also evoke a rather different set of childhood scenes: annual trips up to Kitt Peak National Observatory, home of the planet's largest gathering of astronomical telescopes and related instruments. My grandparents would take me up there for a day outing each spring, and the entire mountain was seemingly blanketed with ladybugs.

I photographed this entry's submission earlier today, on the grounds of Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara, CA. Moments before I'd emerged from a stint in a massive, loud, enclosed MRI chamber. I'd brought the new 7D along for a continuation of my camera "shake down cruise", expecting to spy some flower shots amid the ample landscaping. Much to my delight, I had a face-to-face with this tiny creature. The transition from the blaring energy of the magnetic procedure to the silent yet fierce sentry here was just what the doctor ordered.

Even so, once I got a full-sized view of the resulting image I recorded I was immediately grateful this subject is smaller than I am . . .

Ladybug, #0529-7D

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: July 18, 2011; Canon 7D; f/7 @ 1/2049 sec; —2/3 EV; ISO 1250; Canon EF 100mm Macro f/2.8 USM

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