My wife was restless last night, which meant that I got kicked awake twice and the second time, there was no getting back to sleep, so I have been up since around 5 in the morning. I think rather than getting up early, we should sleep more as we age, as there is nothing to do.
Well, there was plenty to do, but at that time, mowing the lawn wasn't an option. I don't have what it takes to mow all the lawn in one go, so I did half a couple nights ago and decided to do the rest this morning, before it got warm. Normally "getting warm" isn't much of an issue in Finland, but it is about 30 degrees Celsius today and I am currently unable to spend too much time in the heat, in the brightness or doing much physical activity.
Once it hit about 8am though and after being awake with my daughter for the hour and half before that, I headed out to get the grass done and it seems that I disturbed quite a few jumpy locals. I don't think I have ever seen so many crickets at one time and they were hopping mad all over the place. I was so worn out from the work that I couldn't be bothered trying to take any photos, but this little fella was sitting on the front steps several hours later, still pissed at having being moved on from wherever he he had been holed up in the morning.
I am not a bug person per se, but I do find the level of detail that nature has gone to in order to create such a diverse range of animals on this planet amazing. Bugs are made of all of these little awkward bits that if handed them as a Lego kit without instructions, even my brother 
This guy wasn't too shy, so I was able to get a few angles of him as he was sitting on the concrete, which gives it a nice separation from the background. Though I wasn't sure if I would get any photos at all, as when I saw him I didn't have my camera with me and I first showed my daughter how far the little thing could jump using a twig to lightly touch his back leg, propelling him hundreds of body lengths to about a meter away.
It was then I decided to grab the camera from inside and see if he was still waiting around and while he was, I got a little too close with my very first shot and spooked him, causing him to jump another meter or so, right to the edge of the concrete and only half a jump away from the grass and inevitable freedom from the lens. With a little more care, I was able to get pretty close and grab these shots.
For those that are interested, these are shot on an Olympus EM-1 MKIII using a 60mm prime 2.8 Olympus macro lens. I have cropped them in Lightroom mobile on my phone and added just a touch of vibrancy to bring out the green of the body, as it was a little washed out in the originals. I don't like editing these kinds of photos too much and try to recreate them as I saw the scene. Of course, these days the camera does some of the post work while taking the picture too.
It was nice to have the camera in my hand again and I think that while I still can't drive and can't get out too far or for too long, I might do some wanders around the yard and neighborhood to see if there is anything interesting to capture. I definitely need to add more "personal stock" to my collection for posts, so I may also see what other kinds of images I can build to complement my text, as it all adds to the capital of my content.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]