Daily Archives: September 30, 2013

Parasitism in action!!

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Art is all around us and can take many different shapes and forms. Sometimes nature itself can create fascinating things.  At first glance, you may think, cool a caterpillar!  But closer examination shows that this caterpillar is INFECTED with some sort of parasite!!…. 🙁  I found this caterpillar in my backyard hanging out on one of the tomato leaves and I immediately took a picture.  After consulting a friend who is very knowledgeable of bugs, I learned that this is in fact not a caterpillar at all but actually a Tomato Hornworm (Manduca Quinquemaculata) infected with the  cocoons of braconid wasp larvae.  The Braconid wasp is a parasitic wasp that lays its eggs inside of the Hornworm.  They feed internally on the hornworm, which eventually kills the host.  After a period of time the larva emerge to form cocoons on the outside of the worm. This is probably the state at which the worm pictured above is at.  After a few days, the wasps emerge and the cycle starts all over again.  Nature can be beautiful, fascinating and sometimes terrifying at the same time! Isn’t parasitism cool?!?!IMG_2343

Why, hello there Mr. Worm…..and guests!!

 

Henry “Sax” Young – NYC Street Performer

About half a year ago I was standing at W4 Street Station at 11 o’clock, extremely exhausted and stressed out about life, when I heard some beautiful saxophone music playing down the station. Despite having to be in the front of the train, I walked towards the music at the back of the platform and came across this man: Henry Sax. He had an amplifier with a distinct blue “on” light and a microphone that was attached by a rope to hover over the saxophone’s opening, delivering the perfect volume of music for the crowd. And my god did this man have a crowd – there was at least 20 people there and perhaps a dozen more sheepishly grinning from the sides. I was unaware of the mellow hip-hop tune that he was playing but managed to alleviate my worries for the five minutes that I stood there in total trance. I vowed to give him a dollar once he was done performing but unfortunately had no cash (although I would’ve happily given him my debit card, that’s how good he was). He had a container of business cards that just said “Henry Sax”, and after a furious two week quest of finding out more about this man, I gave up – only to find new videos of him on Youtube from the past 2 months. These videos are below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqpzuyg4Gh0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym1vuYyPFN

Ugly Beauty

When I was younger, I used to always watch modeling competitions on TV, but never seemed to pay attention to the photographer. I have a newfound appreciation for photographers after visiting Greg Broome’s studio. I realized that without the photographer capturing the perfect moment, there would be no picture. That moment could happen in a split second and all the pressure is on the photographer.

I also found the concept of photographing moldy food noteworthy. No body would question photographing fresh food, and most people wouldn’t even look twice at it. Why is the human mind interested in the unusual things? It reminded me of that cliché “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and the whole “ugly beauty” concept. Finding beauty in things most people consider “ugly” shows a unique characteristic in someone. The ability to think outside of the norms created by society shows true creativity. This idea transcends into another cliché, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Everyone has their own perception of what they see and photography finds a way to capture that. 20130917_125027

Street Music

I was sitting in the succah (jewish ritual hut for the holiday of Succot) in Madison Square park last Wednsday (the door to Baruch’s succah was locked), when I heard music playing. I listened for a minute or two before I realized that someone outside was playing Jewish music on a trumpet. I looked out the door, and I saw an older guy in a leather jacket who didn’t look Jewish at all, sitting on a bench playing the trumpet. I was glad to be able to have something to do while I ate lunch. I asked the rabbi who built the succah if he knew who that guy was, and he said he knew him because he always played outside their succah. I didn’t have time to ask this guy why he spent all day playing Jewish music in the park, but I certainly wasn’t complaining.