I decided to walk all the trails in Ballard Park today, and ended up getting some decent shots of small creatures. Below on the left is a very, very small snail on a Spotted Knapweed seed head in the Aspen Grove in the quarry meadow. Below on the right is an American Painted Lady butterfly on the Valley Trail. And the big picture below them is an Orchard Orbweaver Spider (Leucauge venusta) on the Swamp Maple Trail.
As for the video in the title... Yesterday's surfing adventure got me messing around on the web looking at other Newport surfing shots, and I stumbled across this video of the surfing at Ruggles Ave. in Hurricane Bill's aftermath. The videographer must have been there all day, because he has some shots of Ian Walsh and Justin Casey that were taken before I got there. But you know the surf was good and the word was out when two, count 'em TWO, pro surfers from Hawaii - Ian Walsh and Garrett McNamara - made the trip here to catch the action. I was especially fascinated by McNamara, who specializes in SUP (Stand Up Paddle surfing); I got some great shots of him myself that day, and they're in the web album. But I was especially happy to see homeboy Justin Casey spotlighted in this video; in fact, he's the first spotlighted surfer in the video. Justin's father Marty is an old friend of mine; he and his first wife were my first neighbors in Newport back in May of 1974. Heh, heh! I woke them up around midnight the night I moved in, my friend Marc and I hauling my 300 lb. packing crate with all my worldly belongings in it up those narrow stairs to the third floor loft apartment. Marty surf's too, so you know where his son got the bug. But Justin is just so good! He really should consider going pro. That first spotlight, with him ducking under the curl and then shooting out the end of the barrel is just outstanding! So all of my California friends who consider East Coast surfing to be for kiddies and wimps, watch this and learn better!
Photos & text © 2009 by A. Roy Hilbinger
...the orbweaver spider is crazy beautiful. It looks translucent almost...and the body resembles the reflective colors in mother of pearl. The Painted Lady butterfly is beautiful...
ReplyDeleteFun video...must take some major skill to be able to ride those giant waves. Very cool on video--it must have been spectacular in real-time.
Those close-ups are incredible.
ReplyDeleteI love the snail - so earthy - and yet so ethereal.
And the surfers? Just plain awesome.
The spider picture is quite stunning. You even captured the thread. Spectacular photography.
ReplyDeleteYes!Yes! The Spider is Amazing!!!! Nice Art Roy.
ReplyDeleteRegards
tony.
Hmmm . . upped the macro ante hey? I haven't done much macro work beyond flowers must try my hand. And I think the photographers of these super wavesa are as mad as the kids that surf them!
ReplyDelete