May as well give it a try

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This is a rescued shot: it was so dark under the trees with a heavily overcast sky that I was a little surprised that I had captured anything. Back in the day only heaven knows what alchemy would have been necessary to get something printable. Sometimes I curse the arrival of digital photography, but one of the advantages is that it does engender a spirit of 'may as well give it a try'. This is much more satisfying than waiting for the sun to appear over one's shoulder so that shooting at 1/125th at f/8 is possible. Hands up anyone who actually remembers what that last part means. Excellent! Now explain it to the rest of the class.

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This praying mantis was alarmed by the infrared focussing light on the camera and scuttled up the wall to a window ledge then onto a ceramic salt shaker masquerading as an apple. Does that sound like Beat poetry, or a stage direction for a Becket play? I took the shot, but without my spectacles I had inadvertently set self-timer as well as the close focus mode. The flickering focus lamp and the timer countdown beep actually worked to my advantage: the curious mantis stopped and looked around until the shutter fired. The camera immediately shut down because the batteries were flat. Time to stop for the day.

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