The Munchkin's Notebook

I like high speed photography, but I am limited to what I can do within my studio space and with the equipment I have.  So I usually focus on dropping things, this weekend it was gelatinous cubes and colored water.  The gelatinous cubes were a new for me, and still require refinement to the gel composition.  I bought clear Knox gelatin and made two batches.  (I did add food coloring to the mix for contrast.) The first batch was a little mushy while the second batch was firmer like a Jell-O giggler.  The softer batch worked better, providing more deformity while tumbling and a better splat upon impact.  As I dropped the cubes and sphere I hit the shutter release button.  The squishy cubes lasted for about 10 drops depending on the height of the drop.  While the very firm sphere appeared indestructible.   I may try this again, possibly throwing the cubes against a wall instead of dropping them. Firm Sphere Impact Squishy ...

Red Panda On January 18 th the National Zoo will present the new little panda cub, named Bao Bao , to the public. However if you’re a FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo) you got to see the baby panda a week earlier.  So I went early this morning to see the panda.  They routed people through the top of the Asia Trail to meter the crowds and then only let groups of about 20 people into panda house for 7 minute viewing intervals.   We only had to wait about 15 minutes to see the panda. While waiting in line we enjoyed the antics of the two red pandas.  When we finally made it into the panda house the baby panda was awake and feeding.  However, I didn’t get as nice a view or picture as I wanted.  The problem was they did not completely clear out the viewing area before letting more people in. Thus some people were not obeying the rules and leaving when their group’s session was up, basically hogging the panda.  There was one guy who just wou...