Indian Paintbrush
Todd Lake, Oregon – August 2010

I’d always heard that one could find wildflowers in this area of the Cascades but I’d never made it up to see for myself. Now that I was here I was shocked by their numbers. There were lots! Unfortunately, they were nearly all past their prime. Still, it was good to know; maybe I will make it up here again next year. This shot of Indian paintbrush, taken with a new 100mm macro lens, was the only image of wildflowers I attempted on our way around the lake. I was happy with the way it turned out.

Western Toad
Todd Lake, Oregon – August 2010

What brought us to Todd Lake was not wildflowers but the endangered Oregon spotted frog. We’d been told they could be found en masse on the far side of the lake. Not today. We thought we’d found one when we saw this Western toad swimming along the edge of the lake.

Western Toad II
Todd Lake, Oregon – August 2010

The toad stopped for this brief photo op before heading back out into the water.

Stranded
Todd Lake, Oregon – August 2010

We never actually saw any of the endangered Oregon spotted frogs but we did see tadpoles – thousands of them. They formed dark clouds just below the surface of the lake. We also found a group of tadpoles in this shrinking pool of water that had become cut off from the lake.

Operation Rescue
Todd Lake, Oregon – August 2010

Were these tadpoles going to die? We didn’t know. Did they belong in the lake? We didn’t know that either. But that didn’t stop a Certain Boy from deciding that they needed saving… Cue Operation Rescue!

The Handoff
Todd Lake, Oregon – August 2010

The Mom and The Boy established a rescue protocol in which The Mom dug the near lifeless tadpoles out of the mud and handed them off to The Boy, who would run them over to the lake.

No Time to Waste
Todd Lake, Oregon – August 2010

The Launch
Todd Lake, Oregon – August 2010

Once at the lake, The Boy would launch the tadpole to…uh…safety.

Jumpin’ Boy v.2010
Todd Lake, Oregon – August 2010

Black Petaltail
Todd Lake, Oregon – August 2010

So..we showed up expecting to see frogs. We ended up seeing wildflowers, “rescuing” tadpoles, observing a few Western toads, and, finally, encountering vast numbers of Black Petaltail dragonflies. These things were awesome – huge, yet delicate. One landed on Darla’s arm, an unwelcome invasion of her personal space as far as she was concerned. Lewis and I laughed as she complained to us about the nerve of that particular insect; unbeknownst to her, another, even bigger one, had landed on her leg. Darla wouldn’t hold still so I could shoot it. Another one landed on the brim of my hat, as if to taunt me.

Just as we finished our loop around the lake, this particular dragonfly came to rest in a nearby tree branch. To my surprise, it didn’t fly off as I approached. I got closer and closer and closer. It didn’t seem to mind at all. This was very uncharacteristic of dragonflies in my experience. They always seem skittish. Not this one. It wasn’t until I went around to his right side that he flew off. This makes me wonder if somehow he couldn’t see me on his left.

Despite how close I was able to get, I can’t say that I’m really happy with this image. Being new to the world of macro photography, I didn’t realize how small an aperture I would need to achieve a satisfactory depth-of-field for a shot like this one. Photogs shooting with high quality digital compacts have a real advantage when it comes to macro photography due to the ability of these cameras to capture a deep depth of field at a relatively large aperture. This makes me wonder if there is a G12 in my future…

previous image set: Sparks Lake, Oregon
next image set: Crater Lake National Park