Day 173: Bert on the Move

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Day 172: Smitty’s Market Wood

These piles of wood fuel the fantastic BBQ at Smitty’s BBQ in Lockhart, TX.   I chatted up the guy who carried wood into the kitchen and he said they used about 8 feet of a pile per day!  Insane, and amazing.  1 pound of lean shoulder + half pound of moist brisket + 2 sausages = 4.5 full people (Bert is only half a person at age 11 months).

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Day 170: Hannah

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Day 167: Tightrope

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Day 166: Dave & Frankie

Day 164: Joe

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Day 163: Mary in Peril

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Day 162: Levitate

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Day 160: Blurs

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Day 159: Archie McArthur

Meet Archie McArthur, an Aussie entomologist visiting AMNH for a week before heading up to Harvard on Sunday. Archie was a farmer for most of his life and took an interest in ants when he retired, since becoming a world authority on certain species.  He even wrote a book. Oh ya, did I mention that he’s 89 years old?  Click to enlarge.

So in order to take the macro shot of different ant species under controlled conditions, Archie, who was a radar repairman during WWII, built his own rig complete with 4 independently controllable flashes on top, bottom, and sides. As well as a ring of LEDs which act as a ringlight to set focus. He shoots tethered into Nikon Capture and then uses a utility to merge the depth of field of a series of shots. It’s nuts and this guy thought of everything, amazing stuff.   You wish you were half as cool as Archie on your best day.