Photo Contest - A is for August (8/1-8/7)

[Ivan Seeking]

Your dog looks like a Jedi.

- Warren

Actually, he is a time lord - Dr. Who

He came right after Tom Baker.

 

[triden]

some cool pics in this thread!

 

[nazzard]

appetite (for Agapanthus)

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7927/appetitebz6.jpg

 

[ZapperZ]

I don't know about everyone else, but so far, the pictures for this contest really kick ass!. Wow, people!

Zz.

 

[Chi Meson]

appetite (for Agapanthus)

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7927/appetitebz6.jpg

[/URL]
Nazzard, are you a professional? That one is amazing!

What lens did you use?

 

[nazzard]

Nazzard, are you a professional? That one is amazing!

What lens did you use?

Hello Chi Meson,

I'm no professional, it was my first try with a DSLR ... I'd say the borrowed equipment was though.

camera body: Canon EOS 5D
lens: EF 28-135mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS USM

There was no macro-lens in use, it's cropped and only a small fragment of the original picture. But I thought it's still a nice result I'd like to share.

I'd love to test the body with a telescope, but this will have to wait as I'm leaving Europe for a few weeks...without the camera.

Regards,

nazzard

 

[larkspur]

Acharia stimulea

http://home.comcast.net/~larkspur2020/Acharia_stimulea.jpg

This thing stung me when I got too close with the camera. It was munching on my blueberry bush.

 

[ZapperZ]

This thing stung me when I got too close with the camera. It was munching on my blueberry bush.

Oh good grief! The things people are doing just to get pictures for this contest! :)

Just don't put yourself in a dangerous situation, that's all I ask!

Zz.

 

[Astronuc]

This thing stung me when I got too close with the camera. It was munching on my blueberry bush.

Yes, this is one of the stinging caterpillars.

http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/misc/io_moth.htm

In Florida, the main stinging caterpillars are the io moth (Automeris io (Fabricius), Saturniidae), the saddleback caterpillar (Acharia stimulea (Clemens) [formerly in Sibine], Limacodidae), and the puss caterpillar (Megalopyge opercularis (J.E. Smith), Megalopygidae) (Biery 1977, Zak 1986). All species of Limacodidae and Megalopygidae appear to have urticating larvae.

Best to knock it off into a solution of soapy or salt water - or find a braconid wasp to lay eggs on it.

It is a noxious pest.

 

[Mk]

OH my god, Nazzard and larkspur should photofight! On Sunday, by the flagpole, at 4 o'clock.

Announcer: Wow! Did you just see that picture?
Announcer 2: A 37:50, I haven't seen one of those since Lou Stevens in 1979!

 

[larkspur]

- find a braconid wasp to lay eggs on it.

I'll go look for one of those now... Would just one do the job?

 

[Moonbear]

This thing stung me when I got too close with the camera. It was munching on my blueberry bush.

Careful! We don't want any photo contest casualties here. That is a really cool caterpillar though. I've never seen anything like it!

 

[larkspur]

Careful! We don't want any photo contest casualties here. That is a really cool caterpillar though. I've never seen anything like it!

I thought it was so cool that it warranted a photo. It was rather small. Less than two cm. There were several of them that I did not see until it was too late. The sting was not bad. Felt like a weak electric charge shooting up my arm.

 

[Mk]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/Cup_moth_caterpillar02.jpg
This is an interesting-looking caterpillar.

 

[ZapperZ]

This is an interesting-looking caterpillar.

Is this your contest submission? Because if it is, then I don't see the connection with the letter "A", not to mention, it is larger than the maximum size in our rules. If it isn't, then it shouldn't be in this thread.

Zz.

 

[Gokul43201]

This picture of my department is more of an advertisement than a contest entry!

ATRIUM

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/8563/img2090kv5.jpg

 

[ZapperZ]

OK, so this picture is lame and can't compete with some of those already submitted, but what the hey...

A is for the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator, which you will get to see up close and personal if you come to our Oct. 7th Open House. :)

Zz.

 

[Gokul43201]

Hey Zz, I already took up 'A is for Advertising' !

 

[ZapperZ]

Hey Zz, I already took up 'A is for Advertising' !

Hey, that's why I did it. I learned it from you!

:)

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

This picture of my department is more of an advertisement than a contest entry!

Did Ohio get a bulk discount on that architecture (or from that architect)? We had a building at Cincinnati that was very similar in appearance in the atrium, and another that was under construction when I left that will also be similar (it's adjacent to the first building, so I figured it was all part of the same architectural plan as part of the overall goal of doing away with the "stick any kind of building anywhere there's space for it" prior look of the campus...when I first got there, it was hard to tell where the city ended and the campus began because it was all the same mish-mash of non-descript buildings). It feels nice to work in a building with a big, modern atrium, but then every time I hear complaints that there's not enough space to recruit in someone new, all I can do is look at that soaring atrium and think "wasted space...that could have been more labs and offices."

 

[Gokul43201]

It feels nice to work in a building with a big, modern atrium, but then every time I hear complaints that there's not enough space to recruit in someone new, all I can do is look at that soaring atrium and think "wasted space...that could have been more labs and offices."

Fortunately for us, there's neither the money to build more labs/offices nor the money to hire people to occupy them!

 

[Moonbear]

Fortunately for us, there's neither the money to build more labs/offices nor the money to hire people to occupy them!

Ah, it's always nice to achieve balance.

 

[0TheSwerve0]

Arms
Should I be surprised that nobody has tried African-American?

 

[Cyrus]

Ahhhhh, great pic swerve.

 

[0TheSwerve0]

Thanks, I went through about 30 pictures before I decided on this one. Lots of them had my messy room as a background. Too bad we can't edit those things out!

 

[Janus]

A is for "airplane"

http://home.earthlink.net/~parvey/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/aircraft.jpg

 

[Astronuc]

OK, so this picture is lame and can't compete with some of those already submitted, but what the hey...

A is for the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator, which you will get to see up close and personal if you come to our Oct. 7th Open House. :)

Now that's a picture that only a physicist (maybe a particle physicist) could love. :rofl:

 

[MindRafter]

appetite (for Agapanthus)

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7927/appetitebz6.jpg

[/URL]

You must've needed real patience for that shot! Fantastic! :)

 

[star.torturer]

or be in the right place at the right time
or be really lucky
or be really good at immaging software
or have a knack with a huge lense at a nursery/bee keepers

 

[MindRafter]

Hehehehehehhehe :D

 

[ZapperZ]

Now that's a picture that only a physicist (maybe a particle physicist) could love. :rofl:

Which is why I know that there's a snowball chance in hell that I'd even get enough votes to make it in the final. :)

Since I'm on a roll with this thing anyway, I'll tell you why this is a unique accelerator, at least at Argonne.

While most accelerator facilities here are bigger, more complex, and better staffed than we are, there's one big important difference - most of them are either users facilities or in support of a facility for other users. The Advanced Photon Source (another "A" facility that I was contemplating in getting a photo of) has a very well-established accelerator - but it is being used to inject electrons into the APS synchrotron ring. The accelerator next door for the Intense Pulse Neutron Source is used to generate pulsed neutrons. The accelerator at ATLAS is used to generate heavy ions to various targets, etc.. In each one of them, the accelerator is used to support other functions and other users doing research on various things.

On the other hand, our accelerator IS the research project itself. It is not generating electrons to be used to do other things. Trying to design, test, and build a better accelerator is the whole point of our existence. We have no users to make use of the beam to do other things - we do have collaborators who, on occassions, want to make use of the electron beam that we can generate to do things like beam diagnostics and things. But other than that, the whole aim is to study the accelerator itself.

This really messes up the minds of people who have to do a safety overview of our facility. They keep having to keep in mind that, unlike the other accelerator facilities that they have reviewed where the conditions and setup are rather static, ours changes all the time since we keep building and adding components to the accelerator (the accelerator now is longer by a few feet than when Tom came over to take a look at it earlier this year). We always have to remind them that the accelerator IS the research project, not in support of other things. We don't have assigned accelerator operators like other accelerators, because the physicsts themselves ARE the accelerator operators. We build it, and then we run it.

Yowzah! This has gone longer than I wanted to.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Incidentally, this is the last day to submit a photo for this contest, if you haven't done so already.

Zz.

 

[Janus]

Which is why I know that there's a snowball chance in hell that I'd even get enough votes to make it in the final. :)
Zz.

Same with mine, unless I can get out the aviation buff vote.

It's not the photo I wanted to submit, but the other was taken BDC (Before Digital Camera), and the scanner's on the fritz. It was a nice shot of the leaves changing color at our local Japanese Garden. (A is for Autumn). But alas, it was not to be.

 

[Moonbear]

Hey, don't knock it until the votes come in. I didn't expect my kitten in a box to get any votes either, it was just a photo to share keeping with the theme...there are lots of others that are more artistic and show better photography skills than mine, but it still has even managed to get a few votes in the final round.

Of course, Zz could give you a chance if he splits the first round of voting so all the "artistic" photos go in one thread, and the rest in the other. You know, don't try to get particle accelerators and airplanes to compete against nature photos.

 

[Integral]

Same with mine, unless I can get out the aviation buff vote.

It's not the photo I wanted to submit, but the other was taken BDC (Before Digital Camera), and the scanner's on the fritz. It was a nice shot of the leaves changing color at our local Japanese Garden. (A is for Autumn). But alas, it was not to be.

I already used A is for Autumn!