Tango

I'm stumped. I liked this image well enough to post it to my Flickr account, but didn't think it was any great shakes. It's just a quickie shot taken on an enjoyable summer's outing -- some nice blue-green bokeh and two sharp little ladybugs getting intimate.

(At least, I think they're getting intimate -- I know so little about insects that one of them might actually be devouring the other. Which is also an intimacy, I suppose.)

All that aside, I've been surprised to see the response this shot has generated on Flickr. In no time at all, it has made it into Explore and become one of my most "interesting" images. Now, I know that Flickr's "interestingness" has been talked to death and that gallons of pixels have been spilled on the Colonel's secret recipe of views, comments and speed of response that lie behind the index. The whole mess is sometimes dismissed as a perverse kind of popularity contest that rewards some types of images (puppies, kitties, babies, boobies) and ignores others entirely.

I know it frustrates many people on Flickr when they believe that their best work -- or sometimes all of their work -- is passed over by Explore. I understand that completely. So, when a shot of two amorous (or carnivorous) red dots gets the nod, I have to admit... it kinda bugs me.

Let the season begin

The Aylmer Marina is still looking somewhat forlorn. But with evenings that are warm enough for an after-work stroll with the family, and skies like these, it won't be long before the docks are out and the basin fills with pleasure craft.

I don't have a boat myself, but it's at moments like these that I realize how other people having boats is still a part of my summer experience. I don't have the direct pleasure of edging my sailboat out past the lighthouse and buoys at the marina's mouth, but being able to see the boats and other people enjoying them becomes part of my enjoyment, too. Second-hand enjoyment is still enjoyment (minus the cost and sweat of maintaining a boat).

And, while we're on the theme of enjoyment, I'm still getting a kick out of my new Canon G9. It doesn't stand up to my Nikon D70s on close inspection, of course, but no one ever pretended it would. Instead, it promises to be a camera you can always have with you, that you can pull out on a moment's notice on an evening stroll. Like I did on this evening. And will again.