15 February 2010

Life and Death in Thesis and Flotsam

Today Kelley, Clara, Shelby (visiting Clara for a couple days) and I went to the coast.





We stopped at an outlook to see the ocean and stretch our legs before heading on down to Manzanita.




Sorry Shelby, I didn't get the best picture here!



I took the opportunity to document my first sculpture piece for my thesis. I was originally going to document this in Forest Park but I think that it fit much better in the coastal setting.





We took a walk along the beach after doing the photo shoot (which was my first ever, by the way).













We were silly. (Me and Kelley)




I just want to take a moment to point out how much I have come to love my camera. It's nothing fancy, its a Canon S2 IS point-and-shoot digital camera from 2005. However, the macro focus is obviously my favourite but I think sometimes that gets lost in my editing. So I shall here demonstrate the magnificence of my macro focus.

Tiny jellyfish from 4.5 feet away. It's the small light dot in the center.



Not so easy to see, huh? Well, how about this, I put my camera on the sand and used the macro to photograph this guy -- whom could easily be mistaken for a beaded drop of rain. Not to mention that you can see individual grains of sand.



Anyways, I just thought I'd demonstrate how fantastic this camera is. :0)

Back to the beach: As we walked along Shelby found a large... thing. All I know is that it belongs to some water creature and we all became convinced (with later discoveries) that it belonged to a seal.



As we walked further we found this intriguing atrocity. Grotesque and enticing. Putrid and irresistible.





There was nothing recognizable to identify it as anything to my uneducated biological knowledge but there were large vertebrae which made me think it was a large mammal. Who knows?

Then a couple feet away I found this pile of flesh. Well, I don't even know that I would call it as such at this point in its decomposition.





I'm pretty sure that was a land mammal like a deer or an elk. Check out those massive rib bones, not lithe swimming bones. However, like I said, I don't know much about marine biology.

Then later we found this poor fellow.



I don't know if this is a hole from a bite or something else, it seemed like a very regular and smooth hole, no teeth marks. Maybe a grandma shark with a powerful chomp?



Here's his face. He seemed pretty fresh with very few flies on him, even on the open wound.



And lastly, another massive vertebrae.



Then we walked back and had a good dinner at the San Dune Pub just up the street from the beach and a good time was had by all. And I got my documentation done too, that makes for a happy Hannah :0)

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