334/365: “With confidence, you have won before you have started." ~ Marcus Garvey

3 more pictures in notes above ! :)

A couple of weeks ago, I finally started going out with our Canon macro flash and forcing myself to get used to the extra weight. It's been tremendously rewarding and every day I've been able to take pictures that I wouldn't waste my time with previously. When working at a macro scale, your depth of field needs to be very deep if you want to get an entire object in focus, and that's simply not possible without a tripod or a flash if you're as close as possible and the subject is tiny. Believe me, I've tried to be stubborn, but it's a waste of time. Even though my camera handles very high ISO extremely well, a tightly cropped, extreme macro is not usable with ISO higher than about 600-800 or so (depending on various factors). Needless to say, lower ISO is better. I know it, and I was just TIRED of fighting with light constraints.

I'm still learning to use this flash (and I know I have a lot to learn!), but I'm comfortable with it now and my reward is being able to look at everything with a high potential of getting a great picture! Suddenly, the zillions of tiny things in darker places are now available to me. Talk about EXCITING!!

Today the dogs and I went up onto our ridge again and I made a bee line down to the end of the trail because that's where there's a high percentage of conifers and a moister environment. I found lots and lots of mushrooms and other interesting non-macro subjects (like some cool oak burls and a cute picture of Molly glowing with happiness), and enjoyed peering closely at countless logs, bark and rocks. I got images of 9 different mushrooms in groups of 1-3, and as I was about to head back, I looked down and saw this crazy lichen! I've seen one similar to this, but not so ornate and beautiful. Next to this lichen I found another very odd type of lichen too, and I will share that another day. I'm so happy that I was able to get a crisp picture of this cool lichen to share! :) (By the way, I think this lichen is called Cladonia cervicornis)

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH (17 August 1887 – 10 June 1940), was a Jamaican political leader, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. He founded the Black Star Line, part of the Back-to-Africa movement, which promoted the return of the African diaspora to their ancestral lands. Marcus Garvey

Explored on December 2, 2013. Highest placement, page 8.