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The vocabulary of spiderwebs:
Silk. Gossamer. Ballooning. Dragline. Anchor. Spiral. Funnel. Orb. Dome.
And on dewy September mornings: Beadwork. Rainbow. Jewel. Necklace.
From wiki: "The tensile strength of spider silk is greater than the same weight of steel and has much greater elasticity."
Last spring I found a forsythia petal swinging by a gossamer strand in the middle of the orchard far away from its anchor:
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88 comments:
You are a poet, Ruth.
I've often wondered if jewelers were inspired by spider webs. How could they not?
I love spiders. Those are incredible photos Ruth.
I don't think you need to wonder whether that macro lens was worth the money....in-credible! Especially the third from the bottom! You slay me, girlfriend!
Wow I usually hate when I run into these walking down my driveway and curse a little. You've made them amazing!!!
these photos are so fabulous, ruth! amazing!!! it must be spider season...my son and i were looking at webs in our garden on our way out the door to the fair on Sat.....i especially love the one in the middle with the perfectly abstract looking water droplets....art in itself...
How in the world do you get the images of the individual beads? A macro lens? Stunning photos.
Some are nearly invisible Ruth. Once i spotted a half eaten dragon fly hanging in mid air. it was trapped in a web and i couldn't see, it was so thin and delicate.
Early mornings you can see webs spread across grass, glittering with dew drops, you have to bend too low to take a picture.
Good education and inspiration here Ruth, they all should be published in National Geographic.
California Girl, So very true, This is a big subject. Nature is a good teacher. Aeroplanes(concord), trains car designs (Porche, VW for instance, some Ferraris are inspired by nature to put it mildly, copied actully. Designers have successfully copied the non stick property of lotus leaves and applied it on the glass roofs. There are many others. Scientsts are working on the properties of spider's web but we have not been able to manufacture a simple blade of grass.
and the landing of a plane is exactly like the landing of a stork, absolutely no difference. The only difference is the plane does not flap its wings with joy after a successful landing
Oh my Ruth,that was just lovely. Are you sure you don't want to enter the National Geographic contest????
I actually think I have a necklace that looks just like one of these pictures (except the stones are black). Beautiful!
Do you know that Arthur Rackham painting of the fairies walking along the spider web? It looks exactly like these amazing photographs!
Like everyone else, when I looked at these photos I was in awe. You must have a very good camera. You should enter them in a photo contest.
Wow....What captures....stunning gems Ruth.
(o)
Diamonds, Ruth, lovely diamonds. Such an inspiring and beautiful entry!
How elegant and pure!
Stunning stunning stunning
came to you via the magic RAUF
greetings from New York!
Wow, beautiful Ruth, who knew.
Awesome! Lovely poetry ... Wonderful photography!
... I absolutely love these pictures for 2 reasons.
#1. The exquisite beauty of those webs, especially 5 and 7 and like Susan, the third from the bottom are nothing short of phenomenal.
#2. Your masterpieces provide a very substantial argument to my DH that we truly do need a macro lens! ;-D
Great pictures! Looks like pearls and diamonds.
WOW, love the water droplets. I've been observing a large spider on my front porch this last week. My photos are nothing like these cool ones!
Oh my Oh my I am having trouble expressing how much I love these photos...I was trying to pick out a favorite to mention but wasn't able to....I have always been facinated by spider webs and I find them difficult to photograph...I love the fragments, the beads...what more can I say? These are lovely and I would buy one if they were for sale!:)
There's a time of the year - never the same and never predictable - when spider silk flies, each strand with the tiniest speck of a spider attached.
The babes are far smaller than even the smallest droplet of dew, so light they fly easily with the wind toward their new life. The strands will catch in the rigging and fly there like Christmas tinsel or some sort of ephemeral banner, glistening in the sun.
If you saw them in the sun and had your macro lense with you - well!
We'd have chapter two of your paean to silk!
The photos are exquisite, and little Ms. Point-and-Shoot here coveting something she didn't know existed five minutes ago - a macro lens!
João, thank you. Thank you.
California Girl, there is one that looks like both an Art Deco necklace and a Christmas tree. But I wouldn't begin to know how to string these.
Ellen, I wonder if you have created any art glass of spiders?
Dear Susan, there are two difficult things with a macro lens for me. One is the weight of the lens. I was shaking by the time I came in after this shoot and trying to hold the camera steady. The tripod was too cumbersome, so I just kept leaning my arms on it while holding the camera. You should see how many photos I trashed (yay digital). The other difficult thing is to compose the frame well. If you look at Floriana Barbu's web shot on my sidebar you see a remarkable composition. I had posted that before knowing I would find these webs, and after posting I saw it again, admiring her profound skill and eye.
The great nature is so skillful artist and you were the great explorer, who skillfully created those photos.
Nice Tuesday to you, Ruth!
okay, I held my breath and scrolled (quickly)... the last three of the webs are cool and the 8th from the top is very cool.
Café noir, un petit noir merci.
Quelles artistes !
It's like a miracle of Nature, Ruth! I wonder if our first pearl necklaces were thought up by someone who first saw spider webs laden with dew!!
wow - these pictures are absolutely incredible!
exquisite photos, Ruth. I would love to use one on our corporate website - would you give me permission (actually I will take this off-line and email you) - just wanted to let you know I appreciated you posting those gems!!
Beads beautiful enough for a bride to adorn herself with!
Just awesome photos! A kaleidoscope of intricacies... fascinating, just like they say there are many descriptions of snow in the Inuit language. You're one amazing photographer!
I have a prize for you in my blog, hope you enjoy it. Celeste
Ruth your photos are just magic.
My favorites are numbers 8, 11 and 12.
They are probably those which move to abstract compositions.
Sorry I haven't been very present on your blog lately but I was on holidays for short spans over July and August and then working hard in between those times, trying to make up for lost time, hence very little time for visiting blogs.
Your delicate and sensitive photos of nature are always a joy and I'm glad to be back.
NJ, slimed by a dewy web!
Jean, they are readying their egg sacs for winter. This is a good time to vacuum the studio and make sure a thousand baby spiders don't get born in the spring where I do Pilates!
Loring, Don and Peter gave me the macro for my birthday. It is heavy, a very good lens, and now I have to learn to hold it steady (when not using a tripod) and compose shots in interesting ways. I am very grateful for such a beautiful lens.
"Real water pearls" - very artistic and well done photography,thank you for sharing such beautiful work,
HELENA
rauf, I have been reading an interview with Janine Benyus who wrote Biomimicry and is working with scientists and organizations, teaching them how to mimic nature in their designs. Here is a new TED video from July/August. We have to remember what we forgot.
Cathy, thank you for your encouragement. When I look at the photographs at NG, and at photo.net - such as Floriana Barbu's on my sidebar, I recognize my own shortcomings, the distance I have to travel to be that good. It's fine though, I love the inspiration they offer.
Bug, one of them reminds me of Art Deco design, which must get inspiration from webs.
Pamela, although Rackham is a favorite of mine, I had not seen that one. I found it here - how wonderful. Thank you.
Kat, what I hope to show is not photography skills, but nature's genius. Thank you for your kind words. I do want to keep improving so you can see the wonder around me. I look at artists such as Floriana Barbu on my sidebar and feel dumbstruck.
Hello, Sue, to think that sometimes I sit like a lazy slug in the house and don't go wandering in the meadow to see such things. I am grateful that the macro lens helps me see it even more closely. I'm happy to share these sights with you. You have shared remarkable sights from Africa with us.
You are an artist and a half with the patience of Job! How long you must have waited for all winds and puffs of air to die down before you could capture these beauties!
Oh! Stunning images. What a good 'eye' you have.
Hi, PurestGreen. Is that your mouth?
Celeste, thank you, and the spiders thank you. And thank you for the Moonlight gift, so happy. Your paintings are also a gift to us, extraordinary and beautiful.
Patricia, those are perfect words to describe them. Of course. You are an art teacher and you have an artist's vocabulary.
Hello and welcome, Elizabeth! Any friend of rauf's is a friend of mine. I need to live in NY some day, even for just a month. I miss my daughter and her groom very much. NY is lucky to have them.
You have a wonderful blog. I'll come by for coffee.
As Blake said, Bob, a universe in a grain of sand.
CottageGirl, this is a very good lens that Don and Peter gave me for my birthday. It's the Nikon AF-S Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 ED Macro. It's heavy and taking some getting used to. It's best to use a tripod or find ways to steady your arms. I've been wistful for one of these for about three years. This year it came!
Kanmuri, think how amazing water is, each little bead of it. It boggles my mind what nature can do.
Judy, it's fun to watch a spider over time and observe its habits. Watching them in September makes me wish I were more productive and energetic to care for my nest as well.
Oliag, would you buy the web, or the photo? :) Please feel free to print the photo if you like. I can send you a higher resolution image via email if you send me a request.
Linda, you and rauf have challenged me to capture these little strands, a good reason to always have the camera around my neck when I go out the door. If I saw one without it, I'd probably never find it again.
Dear Leena, nature's science and art seems so effortless. I wonder if the spiders feel stressed when they work these out.
Violetski, I can see I should have labeled the pics, because it's rather a pain to keep counting. Thanks, dear.
Oui, Daniel, tres belles.
Boots, liquids amaze in their ability to hold a sphere. And pearls form differently and are spherical. Now I want to contemplate spheres.
Thank you, Bindu.
I was stunned at the vibrancy of your photos at your site.
Caroldiane, I replied and would be honored. Thank you. I think any of these photos would make sense in light of what your organization does.
RD, imagine if we could keep them. You should see how clumsy I was when I knocked a long arm of goldenrod into one of the webs, knocking off every dewy bead.
Arti, the macro lens makes it easy. My difficulties are the weight of it - keeping it steady - and composing a shot that is not merely close.
I'm so excited after reading your post about English departments.
Thank you again, Celeste, for the gift of moonlight.
Nathalie, you smart and lucky French to be gone in July and August. It is a very civil custom.
Your visit is welcome and serene. Thank you for the kind words. I loved visiting you again, Avignon is always fresh, vibrant, kind and alive from your eyes.
Welcome, HELENA, what a beautiful name you have. Your photos are splendid and lush. It is an honor to look at the world through your eyes. Thank you for your kind visit.
Hi, Dutchbaby! You know, it really wasn't like that. There was no wind. My goodness, if there had been, my wrists would have given out. As it was just keeping the heavy lens steady was a feat.
herhimnbryn, thank you. Your site and sight are also quite splendid. Wow.
I just love these. I called my husband in to look. He has always admired spiders and their webs. He thought they were wonderful too.
I'm not sure which is more awesome -- your eye or the clarity of your camera. These are elegant. Who could think a spider web could look so lovely (the ones under my wooden chair legs aren't nearly so pretty!)
Spiders are truly the Best weavers around!
So pretty are the webs and the works of Art....
Just ashame the Creators are often rather Scary looking!
Beautiful post, photos....etc. You certainly captured the webs is a beautiful way.
And also enjoyed your post above.
Ruth these are surreal. I think I just walked into one recently, not pleasant feeling that stays with you all day, lol. Oh and you know they use wind to start the web, lol, only if they get lucky too it works. Once I was looking out the window with Matthew, and saw this poor spider flying on his web line holding on for life, poooooor thing..Anna :)
Bella Rum, I admire people who admire spiders.
Jeanie, spiders are a wondrous force of nature. They are artists in an ordinary world that they turn extraordinary - out of necessity. How amazing is that?
Thank you, Sandy. I love to show what we are surrounded by here.
Anna, the drag lines are remarkable. As a human it would be fun and frightening.
Oh I nearly missed this post!
Two words this time....
Absolutely beautiful!
I so want a macro lens for my SLR. I have to rely on my point & shoot for macro shots at the moment.
By the way. That's a weird looking spider you have there.
Babs, please, the photo of that poor dead fly is exquisite. I don't know how a macro lens could improve it.
those are amazing photos - especially numbers 5 and 8. i look at them and feel so calm . . . a nice rest for my eyes on a day when calm is much-needed.
Hi, Fannorama, thank you for stopping by. Too bad the spiders don't know that their artistry helped rest your eyes today.
The Marmelade Gypsy sent me ... your photos are pure magic and so enchanting ... thank you so very much for sharing these, they take my breath away! :)
Hi there, Patty, thank you for your good visit and nice comment. Your artistic creations are also very innovative.
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