Thursday, October 7, 2010

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Spelunking

A stop in the world's longest known cave system, Mammoth Cave National Park of Kentucky.
The caves here are football field-sized rooms of hard rock which seal out moisture from above.  As a result cave formations such as stalactites and stalagmites are rare.
Photography-wise: when you're walking along in a large group with one light every 50 meters, things get a bit sticky. OOF(out of focus), and camera shake, two of my personal pet peeves find their way into the majority of shots.  Every now and then you can pause and stick the camera on a railing or rock for a bit more stability and a chance to manually focus, but on a walking tour that barely stops, time, your best friend in low light, has few chances to help.  Eh well, set a medium-slow shutter speed, wide open aperture, and high ISO, hold your breath and look through them later
What better way to showcase snapshots than a picasa slideshow?






Mammoth Cave National Park, KY

Downhill

ain't always bad

Straaaaaange

The aforementioned plant life:
Not-so-strange

Is that a tongue?

Inside out!

These look like gremlins, don't they?

Friday, August 20, 2010

Gettin' buzzy

Hahahahaa
'cause they're bees? and they're pollinating? get it? hahahaha.
Ok, i'm done.
Saw some of the strangest flora in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  Every single one of these we passed were buzzing with bees.
and a fake close-up (crop a la cute overload)

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Hit the Road

      The first leg from my home in Pennsylvania, took us to a hotel in Tennessee.  Of course this picture is in no way representative of the south, but I'll say this: Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are frightening hives of tourist attractions (read: traps).  Neon lights, fiberglass dinosaurs, custom airbrushed t-shirts, and of course, Ripley's this and wax that, every possible angle to squeeze an extra couple of dollars out of the American tourist.  That is, the tourists in America.  In afterthought, it might've made for some pretty interesting photos if I was up for it.  Well, a smoky night on a strip of micro amusement after a long drive, and I'm one, two, three, four whole states away from home.  Can't complain with a roof over you and a pillow underneath.  If you're headed to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, hold your breath till you've past the last billboard and breathe that welcoming sigh of fresh mountain air at the Sugarlands welcome center.  
     I'm actually on my way out of St. Louis, but hopefully we'll fill in the gaps soon.  Good news, though: I've got this little laptop running again, and it's chugging out photos like a trooper.  Hopefully, some free wifi and a little I'm-tired-of-highway syndrome will find me looking through more photos.  

Look out Omaha, Nebraska.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Cooked Noodle - Tentacles


"The jellyfish’s tentacles look just like cooked noodles. The tentacles hang from underneath the jellyfish’s body. They can be as long as 1 cm to 120 feet long. That is longer than a basketball court!"
Jellyfish can be as small as a grape or as big as a bed. It depends on what kind of jellyfish it is. If it is a box jellyfish and it is full grown it will be 4 meters long. If it is an umbrella jellyfish and it is full grown then it will only be about 1 inch long.
"What happens when jellyfish get washed up to shore?
When jellyfish get washed up to shore they can’t get back in the water. If you spot one laying on the beach remember where you saw it. Go back the next day. Then you will find that the jellyfish has melted. When jellyfish melt, all there will be is some of its skin surrounding the jellyfish. The inside will have evaporated."
Photos: 6/13/2010

...amazing