In Focus

I have a love hate relationship with my macro lens.

I love how close I can shoot some things, though I wish the lens would allow me to focus right on top of something, which it won't. :(  And the depth of field is incredibly fickle, even with a fairly tiny aperture.

But I still find more things to like about it than things I don't like, so for now I will be content with the shots I can get and not focus on the shots I can't get.  

See the dragonfly pic above...see those tiny round things on the back end of the dragonfly...those are eggs!  And if you follow the tail up you can see a few more eggs which I assume will soon be laid.  In my perfect macro lens world I would be able to get the whole dragonfly in focus...and be really, really close...close enough to see each of those tiny little eggs!

And in my perfect macro lens world, insects would stand perfectly still and let me take as much time as I want to capture their amazing detail.

But then I wouldn't have to work hard in order to get each shot...and life would be practically perfect, and where's the fun in that?!

The dragonfly agrees.

And deep down I know it's not the camera's fault or even the fault of my macro lens, it has more to do with my weird obsession with wanting everything in perfect focus, well when I want everything to be in focus anyway.  It's a complicated emotion folks, and I don't claim to be able to explain my weirdness! :)

This week has been a mixed bag of emotions.  Today I had lunch with friends, it was wonderful to get together and it was even more special to be able to celebrate someone's 88th birthday!  Mr. Tide has been working non stop, it comes with the territory of his job, and though I know what he does is very important, sometimes I worry about the toll it takes on him.  And yesterday I got a phone call that a dear old friend had unexpectedly lost his son...his only child, and someone who was way too young to go.  My heart breaks for him and his wife, and their loss has hit me hard.

 Life is sometimes like me and my macro lens, it isn't perfect, it's sometimes hard to deal with, but when you focus on the right parts, you really are able to capture its beauty.  Hug those you love tight my friends and focus on the good things in life.  It's as close to perfection as you will ever come.