Belated Birthday Beetle Baby: For Andrea by Chipka
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Description
I tend to miss birthdays—and most important holidays, for that matter. Everyone has a gift, that one just-so-happens to be mine. And so, with a bit of belated birthday alliteration (as demonstrated by the wholly-improvised title to this piece) I’d like to dedicate this to Andrea. I was tempted to do a digifiddle, but I decided to leave this alone, for the most part. It’s been resized, obviously, but that’s about it.
I have no fantastic garden to photograph, but Chicago itself provides an occasional burst of floral color, and even an intriguing insect or two, if you know where to look. I found this ladybug larva in a street-side planter. There were actually about a dozen of these little people ambling around on the various pansies and other colorful things, but this particular individual was the most cooperative. I’ve always been fascinated by these little creatures, and they (like quite a few insect larvae) make me wish—quite often—that there were adult creatures that looked like these. I love the complexity, the colors, the wildly cryptic appendages sticking up like strange radio-receptor antennas and though ladybugs (ladybird beetles) are gorgeous and fascinating in their own right, they barely hold a candle’s flame to their rather flamboyant offspring. As a science fiction aficionado, I’m tickled pink by the fact that a few rather nasty creatures in the Star Trek universe are actually based on these critters. Ceti eels, first revealed in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan are something of a cross between ladybug larvae, woodlice, and…well…latex. They’re allegedly native to Ceti Alpha 5, and why they’re called “eels” I don’t know. I guess you have to ask the movie’s director, Nicholas Meyer, and well…he’ll probably just tell you that they’re called eels because it sounds a lot more impressive than: Those things that look like baby bugs. The little latex alien critters are flamboyant bits of latex, covered in slime-number-5, meticulously-applied by some special-effects wizard with a paintbrush. They’re not as colorful as the real larvae they’re based on: they're not as interesting, but the fact that they’re based on something is just a hint of what actually went into the making of…well…a Star Trek movie.
And so, after a long ramble that goes from a planter in Chicago to the fictional Ceti-Alpha 5 (complete with Ricardo Montalbán menacing various Star Trek heroes with a pair of over-sized tweezers and an alien parasite made out of latex) I’d like to dedicate one of Chicago’s charming, alien-inspiring residents (on colorful blossoms) to a friend with a real flair for the natural, the whimsical, and the outright elegant. I happen to like belated birthday beetle babies more than I like Ceti Eels, and so it’s only fitting that I provide one of the more cooperative, well-dressed specimens as a birthday dedication, belated though this dedication may be.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and Happy Belated Birthday, to Andrea!
Comments (27)
Sea_Dog
Stunning, Chip, great work.
NightGallery
Great color in this shot. Nice capture!
Geoaskier
Gorgeous!!
Leeco
I was drawn to click on this thumbnail because of the colors. They are rich and full. They are very pretty and well captured. It also did not hurt that there was mention of a beetle being here also. I happen to like bugs and spiders and all sorts of little critters so that was an added inducement. AS if I needed any further justification to view this image, your dedication is to a lady I admire quite a lot. I like her images. I like her affinity for nature. I like her involvement in life. so I clicked on the thumbnail. I then realized the the beetle was a Ladybug nymph. I then read your comment. I (as you are) am fascinated by these little wonders of nature. These nymphs are so radically different from the adult form that it is hard to believe that they in fact do become the familiar Ladybug Beetle. They are much more flexible than expected, lol. I never knew about the Star Trek connection but I have managed to observe the process whereby they transform into the adult. It is a very interesting process. All in all, I made a good decision when I clicked on your shot. Thanks for sharing the shot and the entertaining ramblings. Lee
KatesFriend
Well, I love the beautiful vibrant colours of this shot. I am always a sucker for such things. You seem to have captured more of the primary spectrum in this microcosm. I go nuts for Monet and van Gogh as well. Nice little story about the beetle larva and Star Trek II, though I have to say I am more of a fan of the adult form of the little critter.
mbz2662
Glorious! Such beautiful, vibrant color enhanced only as you can with a few words. ..and it is just amazing that this little nymph will be a lady bug :)
tennesseecowgirl
Very pretty~
auntietk
Great capture for Andrea! The colors are wonderful, and the bug is absolutely luminous!
helanker
A super shot for Andrea. Couldnt be a better dedication...in my opinion. And it was such fun reading your thoughts around it.
blinkings
I think you have done a fine job on this mate.
Sepiasiren
I may not 100 percent share your enthusiasm for insects but I can greatly appreciate your eye--you almost make me want to pick up a magnifying glass and take a gander at the smaller world....lol
durleybeachbum
What a great surprise, Chip! Thankyou so much for this vibrantly coloured pic, with one of my favourite people in it! I so enjoyed your Star Trek ramblings..one day when I can bring myself to spend more time indoors I may watch some. My friend Daphne, (70ish), has them ALL on DVD. This is a VERY striking photo... fabulous.
alanwilliams
a glorious coming together of colour
kgb224
Wonderful capture my friend.
flavia49
fantastic colors and dedication!
jmb007
superbe photo!!
MrsRatbag
I had no idea what these were until last October in Bournemouth, when Ronnie picked one up and explained them to me...a strange and otherworldly little creature indeed! I love this shot, with the pansies as backdrop, and I didn't realize the Star Trek connection, but it makes complete sense!
Meisiekind
Wonderful pops of color and the cutest little critter! Great dedi to Andrea!!
sandra46
TERRIFIC, WONDERFUL IMAGE! THERE IS A GREAT VARIETY OF BUG LIDFE OVER THERE, BUT THIS LOOKS LIKE A BUG I MET SOME MONTHS AGO, I'VE NO IDEA OF ITS NAME, RACE OR RELIGION, BUT IT LOOKED INTERESTING IF I MAY SAY SO. FANTASTIC CAPTURE AND THE COLOR OF THE FLOWER IS REALLY PRECIOUS.
jocko500
very lovely colors and image
danapommet
Gorgeous color and dedi for Andrea. Dana
beachzz
Omigosh, there's so much color in this, it just jumps off the page--wow!! What a GREAT shot---I love it!!
bmac62
A wonderful bug for an appreciative gardener/insect snapper:) Love the colors.
romanceworks
I'm so glad you gave her some lovely pansies to go along with the bug. Great shot. CC
anahata.c
a stunning capture, colors so vivid it's almost as if the flowers, beetle & leaves got dressed in them before the shoot, and then arranged themselves for the optimal shot. Beautiful, vivid, clean, clear shot, and the beetle is stunning in his 2-tone outfit. (I'm starting to sound like an announcer for a fashion show. Slap me, please!) It's stunning Chip. And boy, you couldn't have picked a better person to dedicate it to than our wonderful Andrea, who is so far above time that it's ok that you celebrate her day a few days late. Great words about her, love your musings into Star Trek, and you certainly got her spirit ("a real flair for the natural, the whimsical, and the outright elegant"---perfect!) You even caught these violet speckles on the 'star' flower here, and those folded petals behind (like shaved carrots). It's a terrific shot. And though Andrea is known for her terrific digifiddling (and I think that's her word too), if you'd digifiddled this, you'd have lost its immediacy and beauty. It captures her spirit. Terrific upload, and a fine dedi to the great A! Happy Birthday once more, Andrea! (Chip, your shots of Chicago see things I never see, make this place look wholly new; and the nature shots you get amaze me because I would never know they were from the city of asphalt. Whenever I leave my neighborhood, I leave my camera behind---which is the only reason I shoot the gold coast & lincoln park & the lake exclusively. I hope to get away and shoot other parts of this vast place this summer. But with you doing it for all of us, I almost feel I'm off the hook...)
Alex_Antonov
Remarkable work!
praep
An aphids-lion - a nice shot.