Last night I was driving to work when I felt something on my right index finger. I tried to brush it off with my thumb, but it didn't immediately come off. I could feel it moving around, so I realized it must be some sort of insect. I started to do one of those reflexive limb shakes you do when you realize there's an insect crawling on you. The quick motion must have frightened it, though, and I felt a sting. As I realized my visitor was in fact something hostile like a bee or a wasp, my shake evolved into flailing my hand around in a combination of panic and pain.

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I've noticed an interesting psychological phenomenon. You know how, when you step into a dark room from a brighter-lit area, it takes a minute or two for your eyes to adjust so you can see? I've found a similar thing occurs when I go out looking for small things to take pictures of.

At first, I'm looking around intently and I don't see any bugs or crawly things, and I think the outing is a waste. But if I sit quietly and look around for a few minutes, I start noticing them and I realize there's actually lots of them flying around among the plants. It seems the mind is just used to tuning out things on that scale, and it takes a few minutes for it to adjust and start recognizing them. I don't think they're hiding when I come out and then taking wing again once I stop moving. It's a definite feeling of seeing nothing and then suddenly realizing, "Oh, wait, they're actually everywhere."

I can't tell what the guy's name is, but there's some really cool photography on this website. In particular, his high speed photography section is really interesting (be sure to check out the Water Figures). Some of the pages haven't been translated from German, but even on those pages you can appreciate the pictures. I like that on most pages he talks about the setup he uses to obtain his results.

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