Surprising Photographic Interlude: Well THAT was not What I Expected!

I'm always photographing this, that and the other... trying to come up with unusual and eye-catching images for blog posts, articles and... just because.

So out under the eaves of our shed is an abandoned paper wasps' nest, and I wanted to get some shots of it because I love different textures and how nature creates different structures.

Extreme close-up of a paper wasps' nest

This particular nest was interesting to me because it's about the size of a soccer ball... and it was active last year, but lasted through the winter and another summer.

Looks like an odd alien desert landscape, or something. All regurgitated plant matter, cleverly pasted together to form this structure... very delicate, and yet also very strong.

Part of what I find fascinating about this is that each of those little striped changes of color and texture actually represents the work of a different wasp... each one's process with its own unique signature.

For fairly obvious reasons, very few of us get to actually study one of these things, up close and personal. I'm actually quite allergic to wasp stings; God forbid I should actually be stung more than once simultaneously — I'd probably end up in the emergency room.

So anyway, I have the macro lens on the camera, and I'm "right up in there," with the camera lens maybe 2-3 inches (5-7cm) from the nest. It's shady and somewhat dark under the eaves of the shed, so I'm worried about focus and enough light... there's NO way to have a tripod there.

I get my shots... and head back in. And start processing, on the big screen.

I did NOT expect this:

"What are you doing in my HOUSE???"

Clearly, that nest is not as abandoned as I thought!

Now, I looked at it several times, and there was no signs of life, and no comings or goings for several minutes, on a dry day. Except....?

I consider myself pretty blessed... both to not get stung and to get such an unusual and rare close-up of a wasp in a wasps' nest!

I've gone back to check on the next several times, and there are no signs of life.

Pretty strange, huh?

Thanks for reading!

(Another #creativecoin creative non-fiction post)

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Created at 190914 00:15 PDT
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