This is not the kind of picture I take. Yet, this mantis had a distinct anthropomorphic attitude. So, as an inhabitant of the street, I decided to include it in my memories of streets I have crossed, or just walked through.
I do not even know why I noticed it. Right there, on the sidewalk. I stopped and it instantly assumed the pugilist posture. I had seen mantis seemingly take the "praying" position, but not a fighting one! Of course all this is a human's optic and no idea what it means for a mantis.
I had my 1970's Ukrainian Salyut-C medium format camera hanging from my neck, and perhaps it was to relieve my muscles from the 4 pounds of steel and glass that I stopped. Amazingly the mantis took this posture for only a few seconds and I was able to click once. Then it returned to looking like a mantis, next to fallen branches, on the sidewalk.
I had forgotten taking this picture. When I looked at the negative in my darkroom, I realized how symmetrical the "arms" were. And how much, suddenly, this 2 inch long critter looked like an extra-terrestrial!!
Maybe it was?
©Vahé Kazandjian, 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment