Thursday, December 1, 2011

Mantis, A Legend

For some reasons, a little mantis had never left a same place for three weeks, be it stormy or sunny, day or night.


A woman climbed up a mountain and watched the South China Sea at every sunrise, in anticipation of the return of her husband. But she fell ill and died after years of waiting. 


She turned into a stone that continued watching the sea and waiting for that day. This is the legend of Mount Kinabalu, that of the tiny mantis must be as great. 


But I took advantage to make the mantis my model, before it became a stone.


I had ample time for many trials and errors, and many decent shots. 


The mantis was disturbed by my camera flash, and reacted terribly in such a way that saw it posing like a professional; that was great!


I felt so great too!! (I put three extension tubes, 36mm, 20mm and 12mm, onto my Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro lens).


That was cruel, and yet the world is cruel. People take advantage whenever circumstances allow. Be you a mantis, a mountain, a stone or else. I am but as cruel.


The mantis transformed from black to green in the fourth week, before turning into a stone. 

30 comments:

wenn said...

interesting story!

TexWisGirl said...

gorgeous images! such a great model, whether it was willing or not.

Regina said...

You even managed to capture his kneecaps!! such fascinating expressions!! They are absolutely terrific and I enjoyed the legend!!

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

With the fantastic close up. I just realised that the mantis eyes takes half of the face.

FilipBlog said...

Great pictures, loved the story. How do you relate it to the Mantis, is it dying after 4 weeks?

Greetings,
Filip

eileeninmd said...

Wow, awesome captures of the mantis before it turned to stone. Rainfield, the macro shots are fantastic.

Icy BC said...

Fantastic story, and some amazing captures, Rainfield. Your lens mounting on that camera must be heavy, and the mantis didn't think you're cruel at all. It poses for you!

Grass said...

This is a mantis with courage and determination, with this, its limb can even stop a vehicle.

Rick (Ratty) said...

these pictures of the praying mantis are excellent. Your pictures get better with every post.

betchai said...

wow, very impressive macro of the mantis, the extension tubes did great wonders in magnifying even more, i have not tried using it yet, since i am afraid i will find it difficult to mount? i am such a naive with gadgets :(

Cherry said...

i've heard about extension tubes from Eng but i don't really know how it works and how it looks like, i better google it. lol!
we photo enthusiasts aren't just cruel at times but greedy too. we never stop even if we already had decent shots. we end up having tons of photos in our hard drives. lol!

Redzlan said...

what happened if this creature turn big green thing...erere!

One said...

Wow! How did you get such details on the eyes?!!! Amazing!

இ Baŋäŋaz இ said...

Whoa love the eyes of the first tanglang pixz. Nice close ups. You might have picked up a few fighting stance to apply to your wing chun kungfu.

Secondary Roads said...

I love that delightful tale and your excellent images of the patient watcher.

Ginnymo said...

I love your little story Rain. And your photos are amazing!! Love them!!

AVCr8teur said...

Those are some amazing pictures. You are just as patient as the mantis trying different lenses and close-ups.

Giga said...

Przyjemna legenda i niesamowite zdjęcia. Nic złego jej się nie stało, tylko ją na chwilę oślepiło światło z aparatu :-). Pozdrawiam

Lrong Lim said...

Very impressive work! Very sharp pics, and I particularly like the 5th shot...

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

what a macro photo. U ever see a golden mantis? Two came to my house in Singapore.

kumittyi said...

The macro shots are superb. The mantis is so cute.
A mantis is received warmly in my garden. It is a useful insect right? I don't want it to turn to stone.

Nancy said...

I've never seen this type of Mantis. Gorgeous shots!

George said...

Your macros of the mantis are superb. I'm glad he turned out to be such an excellent model, but I have trouble thinking of you as cruel.

I also enjoyed the legend of Mount Kinabalu.

Frieda said...

That's an interesting...like this, the poor waiting woman became immortal.
Your pictures of this beautiful mantis are great.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

You are one of the winner of our chervil seeds give-away. May we have your mail address so we can send some seeds to you. Chervil growing in your garden will attract many little visitors ;-).

Autumn Belle said...

Is he related to ET?

Harshi said...

Oh wow.. stunning photos and what an excellent model, it's the advent of Kung Fu Mantis! :D

Beautiful story too.

Joanne Olivieri said...

What a great story and as told by the legend himself, you :) These shots are simply excellent. You are the master of the lens.

Gemma Ann said...

Hi, was blog touring, stumbled into yours.. gosh what an amazing blog. Love all your pix... hey your call sign, you could be a neighbour hahaha... nice meeting your here..

Brita said...

Wonderful fine opch funny pictures on your grass hopper. They are truly human-like. / Brita