Friday, August 10, 2018

Butterflies and Fast Film

Film, for all the Generation Zs out there, is how we used to take photos. Schools and community centers had darkrooms to develop film rolled on metal spools or plastic strips. Darkrooms were a way for girls who were told to sit on the dumb side of the room and be quiet during math class to at least do science. Whereas dark rooms were something altogether different and best left in the sixties with Sister Gertrude and her ring of many keys.

"Make sure you see the displays of crucified Lepidoptera first." Flap flap
I had unexpected time on my hands yesterday so caught some Blooming Butterflies at Olbrich Gardens. I hadn't ever shot at such a high ISO on my good camera but flash photography was discouraged. I also think live, fluttering butterflies were discouraged, or at very least depressed.

A Pretty Graveyard would make a great name for a band
I was reminded to "look for hitchhikers" when I left.
"I don't think there were enough butterflies for that."
"They don't come out when it's cloudy."

Here are two of the maybe six butterflies I saw
That's like State Fair cream puffs not coming out when it's humid. I've seen what sweaty people do to sweaty cream puffs and it's appalling, but that's the whole reason I go to the State Fair. Did you know they have soup on a stick now?

Not my car
The clouds I knew about, which is why I chose to go somewhere inside with live plants and creatures, but the deluge I was unaware of even as it was dripping on my head through the garden roof (I thought it was part of the exhibit).

Is that a butterfly? No, just some kind of water drops
On the plus side, a tornado missed us by 30 miles and only achieved an EF-0 rating. On the minus side, there was no warning because it was too weak. Although strong enough to rip a roof off a building.

This butterfly was thinking of making a break for it until it saw the carnage in the lobby

30 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I wasn't too impressed with the live ones, Lady F.

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  2. WOW! That was inded some great downpour. Love the last shot of the butterfly. Have a lovely weekend.

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    1. It was nuts, I had all four windows open a smidge and the edge of the seats were drenched. I like the bokeh in the last shot but the whole thing was a wash butterfly wise (pun intended).

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  3. Hello, I would like the butterfly exhibit. Beautiful Monarchs. I hope you were not out in all that rain, best to wait inside. I am glad the tornado missed you. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend.

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    1. I would like to see some actual live butterflies, Eileen, so maybe I'll go back when the sun's out. I think I lost five pounds just walking around in the jungle heat too so that alone is worth a trip back. I didn't wait it out cuz I was already soaked with sweat from the exhibit.

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  4. Wow, that was quite a downpour! Loving the butterflies :)

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  5. I'm glad it wasn't worse! It was a deluge though! Love the butterfly photos. We were trying to get bumblebee photos this morning but they are hard to capture too!

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    1. I only wish there were more. Good luck on those bee photos, beeee careful and I look forward to your shots.

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  6. I like the light you got on the butterflies, especially the brown-winged guys. I don't think you could've got better with the flash. But I'm not an expert on photography. I do remember darkrooms. Once upon a time I could put film onto spools. I enjoyed the developing process. Watching the magic.

    If only there was a way we can exchange our weathers. We get some of your rain while you get some of our clear skies without the high temps.

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    1. Thanks, I was pretty concerned about shooting over 200 when I always try for 100 and was miles beyond that. I loved spending time in the darkroom, the only problem being getting the roll of film smoothly on the steel reel, and then someone turned me on to those plastic strips. If only I'd had a solution like that when dealing with strings (violin and bow).
      We had some pleasant days out despite it being in the mid-eighties, I think the wind was helping but last week we were sitting outside at a diner and this crazy wind picked up a large table umbrella from the porch upstairs and almost impaled the lady behind us. I'd love to see you get all the rain you need my friend.

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  7. Those butterflies are sure pretty. My Dad used to have a darkroom many years ago too. We still don’t have internet and are working on cellular which sure isn’t easy.

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    1. Oh he did, you guys would be all over that. I bet the copious amounts of free flyin' fur wouldn't go well with a darkroom though. Arg, I hope the power gets sorted soon.

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  8. Gorgeous macro butterfly shots! Neat post too!

    Happy Day to you,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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    1. Thanks, Carol, the macros were the easiest shots, so it surprised me when they turned out.

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  9. Am glad that was not your car - jikes - hope they could get it out! My goodness Jeanna, you may think it's not a big deal to show stunning images of these butterflies, but it is! The only way I can get them in a post is to paint them. Somehow I must have missed all the people thinking I was dumb because I didn't like science or developing film, which has a big influence on one's self esteem. Am sorry they got to you (there are several kinds of evils, this is one of them)!
    Now I live on the country side I discovered it can be very hard to get a job. Am rooting for you to get one in the Fall This was a neat experience to share with All Seasons - have a beautiful week (am writing from my "other" blog - but it's Jesh)

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    1. That's cool, J., cuz then I can link to your other blog. Even worse, it was a disabled person's car, I hope they weren't in a wheelchair, but those people at the gardens seem real helpful and I'm sure they'd gladly lend a hand.
      I wish I had your talent, now I think painting them is far more difficult than photographing them, haha.
      Oh yeah, girls were put in categories even more so than the boys and we had this teacher who point blank refused to teach some of us math. This was our math teacher I'm talking about. At least the nuns in high school were about teaching and learning and all that knowledgy stuff.

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  10. FFab photos, my dad loved photography I always remember when I was a kid him developing his photos in the kitchen he used as a darkroom each time while I watched heheh!

    Have an artistictastic week :-)

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    1. So did my dad, that's probably where I got it from. My mother would never have allowed that to happen in the sink, that's a cool childhood memory. I do remember our sink being full of octopus though.

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  11. It's a shame that you were disappointed with the amount of buterflies but the photographs you took are great #keepingitreal

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    1. I love how they tell you the butterflies aren't going to show up as you leave, lol.

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  12. It was not very kind of them to collect your entrance fee before telling you it wasn’t a good viewing day. We visited one in Fort Myers once and had about the same experience. But have seen a couple great ones elsewhere....hope you have a better experience next time. (And I guess at least the adm money goes to a good cause.)

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    1. No, it wasn't, I'm sure they were thinking, "Suckers!" It's partly owned by a non-profit but then also by the City. I'm sure the money goes right to the gardens and I'm sure it's all very expensive. Maybe I can catch it again on a sunny day before it ends.

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  13. Deluge and butterflies don't seem to go together. Let's hope that in the graveyard were butterflies at the end of their days. My father is a photographer, so we always had a dark room in the house. The smell of the processing and fixing chemicals still conjure up childhood memories.#keepingitreal

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    1. No they do not, Cheryl. I don't know how they get those beautiful specimens but the whole thing seems pretty dicey to me. I wish we would have because my dad was really into photography although I had the idea he had a darkroom somewhere at some point. I used to have a pretty good time in the darkroom in the same building where I worked so it washed away some negative stuff I experienced at school.

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  14. Pity the butterflies weren't more cooperative. That deluge of rain is something else.

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    1. I think we're getting the biggest deluge since then as I type this, Fun.

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  15. Hi Jeanna, I really want to go to a butterfly place, preferably where butterflies are fluttering around and not pinned to boards... Unless they were dead before the were pinned... That top butterfly is by far the most impressive, and one that could be used to scare small children into behaving (and I wonder why both of mine are nervous wrecks and hate butterflies!)... Just a touch of rain then? Yesterday we had a touch too. I was walking down what was afats flowing river down some steps in town, trying hard tnot to slip and trying not to thnk too much about what was in that fast flowing river of rain... *shudder*

    Thank you for stopping by and linking up with #keepingitreal.

    xx

    xx

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    1. I didn't think the mass crucifixion of butterflies was the best way to start the tour, but the butterfly man told me to. You mean the guy, lol, he was...interesting. Your kids hate butterflies? Oh man, I'm just watching some of the damage in Milwaukee and Watertown (I know) from last night and feel pretty lucky.
      I can just picture waterfall steps full of street sludge, you're lucky you didn't wipe out.

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