HUNTING FOR HARVESTMEN

This was a great day for pictures. Except for the heat (its 100 here).
On my usual walk I went out around 6pm, and found
this harvestmen under my house quickly. I now have 3 macro
lenses. One lets me do super-macros at full res with no in camera
cropping (digi-zoom) and will prove to be one of the most
important ones I have. The other gives me my ability to
shoot flash solving what used to be a terrible light problem
due to the size of my old setup.
So then I found this dude, (below) as I walked over to
the area I often try to photograph those very fast and
smart wolf spiders-and stoped to take a few pictures.


Then AAHH! first I saw this fast moving one on
my camera–it had climbed up the camera bag and me and
right onto the top of my camera–when I tried to blow it
off so it would leave, it quickly scaled up to my hat and
crawled onto MY FACE! For the first time you can see
a glimpse of me as I try to keep the thing out of my eye.
This shot was not planned, I swear! I had my camera
in my hand and flipped it so I could take a self portrait,
removed my macro lens and chucked it into my open
camera bag–and then shot this impromptu shot in an
incredible amount of self discipline to change lenses
while this thing was crawling on the brim of my hat and
then my EYES! I had no idea what it would do–but it did
not bite or anything. I kept my head–my training payed
off–and I got a once in a very long time shot–of a real
situation. I train myself for cameras and distraction.
How to keep my head and get the shot–how to have things
happen and keep the shot, I think up scenarios and practice.
This has proven very useful. And I also use events like
fireworks and other public stuff to practice photography
skills of all kinds and prepare myself for any type of
picture as much as I can. This self discipline and training
really payed off today. Had I not thought and rehearsed
a similar scenario–I’d probably have jumped and bashed the
poor thing off my face killing it–and never thought of
the shot until later. It pays to think up possible situations
and rehearse how you would handle them in the field.
I really have learned a lot by doing this–if you have a
plan for your shot and something unexpected comes up–
it works! If I have no plan and never thought about it–I'd
mess up. It pays to not just practice this kind of thinking
once–but regularly like an exercise program. Take it
or leave it, for me it really worked today. I’d never have
gotten this great shot if I’d been surprised too much by it
having a regular reaction. If you practice for surprises
like this, such as how to flip your camera with one hand
or change lenses quick with an open camera bag. Then
practice a bit thinking of any imaginable situation you
definitely have an edge. I quickly removed this harmless
harvestmen from my head and put him back on my lawn.
He was unharmed. I can’t believe I got this shot!