Notes on Image

Gallery 1: 21. Wasps (September 2006 in Toronto)

8x10 inches. Canon Rebel XT with Canon 35 mm lens; 1/350 second; f/9.5; ISO 200.

My son and I came across this little scene when we were out for a walk one Saturday afternoon. The wasps were crawling over a crumpled paper bag that someone had thrown in a concrete planter on Danforth Avenue near Coxwell. I don’t have a true macro lens, so I got the camera as close as possible to the wasps. After several minutes of standing around while I snapped away, my son got bored and flicked the bag with his hand, causing the wasps to fly away in alarm. At first I was angry at him, explaining that it was unwise for one person to disturb a collection of wasps while the other person was bent over with his face as close to said wasps as possible. Then I realized that he had been remarkably patient for an 8 year old boy, and had acted logically (in his mind at least) by removing the source of our unscheduled delay.

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All images © Tom Onyshko, 2008