What Frogs?!!

If you've followed my blog the for last month or so, you might remember that I went to a place in Ohio called Camp Joy, where I spent three fun-filled days with a huge gaggle (that is the proper word, right?) of 8th-graders.

 There was a lovely little pond, complete with cattails and waterlilies, which was used for some of the nature classes.  I was taking photos, as usual, when one of the camp leaders brought a group of students out to look for reptiles and amphibians.

"Look, there's one!" yelled a student, not three feet away from where I stood. 
"I see two over here," another called back. I looked into the pond, but saw nothing unusual.
"What is it?" I asked the boy next to me.
"A frog," he replied.  I leaned over and peered into the water.  I could hear kids all around the pond proclaiming that they'd "found one".
"Where?" I still saw nothing except water lilies and algae.

 "Right there."  He pointed at an indeterminate spot in the water, as if I could see exactly where he was looking.
"I still don't see it," I told him.
"There's another one over there, by that leaf- see?"  He ran off to join his friend, leaving me to wonder, which leaf?  Try as I might, I could not see a single frog, and so, frustrated, I went back to taking pictures.

I had a good time, and took some nice shots.  I really didn't give another thought to frogs- that is, until I got home and loaded the pictures onto my computer.  As I began clicking through them, I couldn't believe it- right there in front of my face- frogs!  They were everywhere!

There are three in this photo...  Can you spot them?  Click the pic to enlarge if you need to.

This one, I'm pretty sure, was having a good laugh at my expense.  (Oops!- I mean, these two- I just spotted another one!)

 There are at least three in this photo...

How did I miss this one?  I can just hear it laughing its little froggy laugh...

This one's got quite a nerve, hasn't he?

Seriously? 

 Well, I'm saying it's the bifocal thing.  I really don't know what part of my glasses to look through unless I know exactly where I'm looking.  Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Now I get it, Monet.

The last time I went to our place in the country, the pond had adopted some new inhabitants- water lilies. I'm pretty fascinated by water in general, as you may have noticed, and this development gave me a whole new angle on photographing water.




To be honest, I had never thought about why Monet painted waterlilies again and again. I guess I thought he painted them because, well, they were THERE.


I do understand why he was drawn to water as a subject, though. The colors, the effects of light on its surface, reflecting sky, land, trees- it's an ever-changing and mesmerizing show. Water can move with great force, carrying huge trees as if they were matchsticks, or be as absolutely still as the surface of a mirror. The mysteries of its depths and the life within them captivate me.


Water can appear as smooth as glass until broken by the undulation of a wave. Sometimes it looks like ice, or, oddly enough, jello. It encompasses three worlds: beneath, surface, and reflected above. Perhaps this is what gives it its magical qualities, often spoken of in fairy tales and other stories.




When I began to look at the lily pads on the water, I realized they were connected to the soil on the bottom of the pond by what appear to be long, thin strings. While I had always that they're green, in actuality they vary from yellow to green to red to purple. Moving with the liquid they rest upon, they float on top, and sometimes carry water themselves.


So I took bunches of pictures, not really expecting them to be very interesting.


When I downloaded them onto my computer, I was completely amazed. Why Monet never tired of painting them, why he put them on canvases as big as the side of a house- I get it now.