Feather Duster Worm
It retracts very rapidly to threat. The strobe makes it a lot easier to light and get a focused image. My problem is that I am still struggling to get the exposure perfect. I tend to get close and then the worm retracts. So I am getting fewer shots. But the ones I get are better than what I was getting before. I have to say this is so because the strobe cost me so much to get.
Cardinal Fish
They are described as having two dorsal fins. The book is not entirely complete. I like the head on view with the teeth just so. Mostly the fish tail is what I get in the viewfinder.
But very occasionally there is a fish who challenges me. This is the moment to take advantage and get your shots. The last image is hard to interpret. Was there a bite taken by another predator?
Looking Sad
Mouth down this guy looks sad. He hides under the coral. Shy. It’s still a challenge to get a face on pose. Most fish fear the big noisy object blowing bubbles is going to eat them. I guess hiding under coral gives a measure of security.
Electric Ray
This is a rare fish to find on the reef. It is said to have an electric charge to stun its prey. It is also known as a torpedo ray.
Fun facts? I have had a very limited opportunity to get a proper shot of this fish. The last try my camera was not working properly and I bare got a passable shot. This time around I had everything clicking. The fish did not shock me. I kept away from the electric sensors. I got my shots. Everyone was happy. He swam away safely.
I was so happy to get shots. And my gear was right. The exposure, the focus, the white balance, all perfect. Trust me on this, it ain’t easy.
Oh! And no shock. My dive buddy was horrified to see me so close. But nope, no shocks.
Stonefish
I realize that there are different stonefish. This guy is colorful cute and cooperative. I see them for the details in the eyes and mouth. Otherwise it is entirely easy to miss them. And believe me this fish is not interesting in being detected. This group is dangerous and venomous. Familiarity may be dangerous. But these fish are pretty sedate. They don’t bother me as long as I don’t bother it. I can get in close with my camera. Just follow the rules. Don’t touch anything.
Hector’s Goby
This is a very small fish. It challenges me to get an image. Focus is a big issue. I cannot manual focus effectively. It is always on the move – skittish. Flash/strobe helps. You get good color and stop action. And when it all comes together you have a keeper.
Dusky Gregory
These feisty fellows are on the rocks near to where I emerge. They are solitary each guarding a rock and crevice. They stare at you with open mouth and an attitude. If I linger these guys will nip at my fins. They are aggressive. The main benefit is that they challenge you. So getting a head on shot looking them in the eye is not too hard. I’m not getting the tail end with these guys.
Lobster
It was the end of the dive and I was under a rock looking. Hmm, would that be I’ve been under a rock? Aha! A lobster, I shot several images. They were bright and colorful. Sharp, in focus, well exposed! What luck! Too bad, it was dead, the victim of some other predator. Inhuman I suspect because the lobster did not have the distinct red shell of boiling. Dead nonetheless and my image hopes faded. Upside down and missing the tail half it was an exciting find for about a second. It wasn’t there any longer the next time I looked.
Surgeonfish
This fish is called thus because it has a fin that is sharp and will cut if the fish is provoked. It hangs around the area where we enter the water. It has never harmed me. It is quite colorful. Getting a shot in shallow water. The waves push me around and make it problematic to compose a shot. Just point and shoot, it works.
How Did I Miss This
I swim and try to see the unusual. It’s worth a picture. And in fact I was thinking during this dive about the crown of thorn starfish. I saw some lionfish. I always stop to take a shot. There are thousands of shots of them in my collection. And I still take a few. And when I got to editing, well, right there, plain as day, is not one but probably two of the crown of thorns I had been thinking of. Go figure.
I wear glasses now. My kids tease me. I consider myself to be pretty observant. Oh well. Yes, had I seen them we would have played with the wildlife. Oh! An interesting fact, they are killed by injecting cow bile into them. How did someone come up with that as a solution?
Playing With The Wildlife
We were near the end of a dive when out of the blue (ha ha , it was a green ocean) a group of divers came at us and over passed us. The group swirled and acted frenzied.
Sure, they were playing with a captured turtle. The dive instructor made it a point to apologize for his group later. But meanwhile here I am with a reluctant photo opportunity. It would not be the same story without a picture to back it up. Sorry. I am sorry too. The poor turtle was sure relieved to escape too.
Old Barn
Somewhere there is a series on signs painted on old barns. I just take them where I get them. We actually pulled over to the side for me to get this image. I did not have my long telephoto. So I settled for a medium range shot. I was not that intent that I would hike a mile to get closer. And it’s not really an old sign. Still, it’s old enough to have missing letters. That’s old right?
Gas
Texaco, you don’t see these signs anymore. And the old pumps are long gone. Now I get infomercials and TV news when I pull up to the modern pumps.
I was introduced to Sheetz. You go in and dial up a sandwich on a touch screen computer. It is advanced Subway sandwich menus selection without the need to speak to a human as you customize your order. What happened to gas? You get full service food and coffee. But you pump your own gas.
Dawn
I am not an early riser. And I am pretty lazy. I shoot images when they conveniently present which is to say that I will not get up, travel, and brave the elements to get a spectacular sunrise. However, I can readily appreciate one when I look out the window to check the weather. I usually have a camera close by. So there! Yes, yes, it would be a much better shot without all the distracting branches. Did I say lazy?
YMCA
The new part in the front was not there when I went to learn to swim. I took swim lessons. I had a semester of ballet and tap. (Mother again) And I learned ballroom dance. Oh, and the library was right there on the right front. I played chess too. Tom Swift, Chip Hilton, Dave Dawson and the RAF, Hardy Boys, Happy Hollisters, Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew – series and books all there to be discovered. The Nancy Drews were scary enough that I did not read too many. My daughter grew up devouring them. She has the Happy Hollisters that I read and later collected. Old and new, there is something bittersweet about change. It happens all the time. When did I get so sentimental?
Presbyterian Church
I’m sorry I can’t be more specific about a name. It still is and it’s still there. Others in town are no longer churches. Another progressive idea of my mother was to send me to Sunday school with the little girl next door, Anne. It was Sunday and it was another opportunity to be in school. We were not religious. But we could car pool with Anne. So I learned about the bible. And in the last few minutes before school let out, the teacher had us count and estimate how long a minute lasted. I got close – 58, 59 seconds – often.
The entrance to the left and behind the church was where we had meetings of our boy scout troop in the basement. Troop 86, we regularly won competitions for best troop. We had a good scoutmaster. But camping could be very cold. Once we camped and I went swimming. I got a sunburn where the sun don’t shine. It was humiliating for my mother to take care of it. Never skinny dip unless you are prepared for the consequences. Gee, it was bad enough to go without a suit!
D and E
Davis and Elkins College. It’s not everyday you meet the college president while you’re eating lunch. Jean introduced us. And we saw him again later. Small world small town. It’s a pretty campus on the hill. Big, I mean big kids went there (relative to a grade school junior high kid). The kids got smaller this visit. Yes, just kids….
This place is where I took typing lessons as a junior high kid. My mother was pretty progressive in her thinking. My keyboard skills never got much past – the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Yup count ‘em – all 26 letters.
We got to wander around. The college kids have shrunk and look so small now. And I believe the chapel is new. Anyway I have a soft spot for stained glass.
Manus Theater
Well that is the name that surfaced in my memory. There were two theaters and one drive in when I lived there. One movie house closed. This is not a theater anymore either. But my youth was spent here on Saturdays. 25 cents for the movie and a cardboard box of 15 cents pop corn: you were set till mom came by in the car to get you. As soon as the lights went down all the flattened boxes were tossed like Frisbees. There were the old serial rocket man movies. You always missed too many episodes so it was more tease than fun. My dad took me to see “The Summer Place” here. I’m still puzzled to this day why he did. And once I found a Bulova watch that had smashed when it fell from a car. Only the internal workings survived. I dropped that watch all day wondering how the timepiece was still ticking. And then, right outside the theater it stopped working. Duh?
Downtown Elkins
Like most places downtown anywhere just isn’t much. The mall model has moved most commerce to other places out of town. Dollar General is misleading. The stuff is all more than a dollar. This site and side of the street had a Murphy’s. The store across the street was a Grant’s. Both were five and dime stores.
I could get a real model airplane for 49 cents. It was great. In those days you got the model glue and no one worried that you were sniffing it to get high. And there were no bagels. At least I never heard of a bagel till I lived in NY again.
Union Station
I don’t think so. It’s just the train station in Elkins. I don’t remember this station at all. It was there and has always been there. I forgot to ask if it is still functional. We were from NY and every once in a while my mother would order Chinese ingredients from Chinatown. Then, I knew the package was delivered railway express. So I suppose this is the station. But the image and the station are new to me. I mean i guess we passed it but it was never on my radar.
149 Guy St
When I lived there, we had a phone number with four digits, no exchange and no area codes yet. And an operator connected all your calls. This was a house on a steep hill where we rented until the Southgate Road house was built. Let me tell you, it was steep hill!
It had a coal furnace. It was in much more rundown condition then. Another kid jumped from the porch to the driveway below. It hurt! A robin built a nest in the evergreen on the left one year. I burned ants with a magnifying glass on the front walk. And the family doc would finish his office hours and come around in the evening to give you a shot in the ass. Imagine being ill all day and dreading the visit and that shot!
It was a tiny house but packed with memories. All these years gone by and it’s still there.
Admired Remembered
Colleen admired and remembered a teapot that Jean owned. Jean in turn had received it as a gift from another friend. Not so much a gift as it was given to her when the friend’s mother passed away. I could be wrong. But this is my story and I’m sticking to it. Anyway the nice thing is that there is a place to put a candle in order to keep your tea warm. Ok. There are people who are passionate about their tea. Colleen asked about the maker in order to try to find another. Jean gave it to Colleen. It’s one of life’s moments, an act of friendship followed by an act of kindness.
In the giving I saw that memories are more precious. The gift is merely the symbol. We have objects that remind us. But it is in the history of the object that the true meaning lies. Thank you Jean.
High on the Hill
Jean moved to the top of the hill overlooking Elkins. It was Danny’s old house. I remember him and I don’t. This is a view worth having. That tall building is the courthouse. If you have to move this is the place you’d want to be.
The guest bedroom overlooks this view. I must make it a point to come and stay. But it might be fifty more years before I go back.
Jean
Jean was another childhood friend. She spent time as a correspondent in London before returning to West Virginia. London turned her hair white. Her uncle removed my tonsils a second time and for my brother John the first. Tonsils stay in nowadays. Her house was this brick place I remember well. It was one of the first venues in 7th grade where I discovered it was so lovely to hold a girl and slow dance. Jean swears she remembers I asked her to dance.
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