Coiled and Waiting by alophoto

Coiled and Waiting

I finally got to meet, Meg, the newest resident in Cincinnati, who happens to be a 365er. She arrived last weekend and I wanted to make her feel welcome, so we met up at Sharon Woods yesterday afternoon. To be clear, this photo is NOT her. I believe that it is a Northern Water Snake and it apparently has a very vicious bite when threatened. Glad that snaky didn't feel threatened by me. And no, I did not scream when I saw or shot it. I'm not really afraid of snakes unless startled by one (or if I knew it was venomous and deadly).

It was great to have my second meet up in a week and finally put a name with a face to a friend. The challenge was trying to have adult conversation, snapping occasional photos and dealing with my needier than usual 4-year-old. Yeah, having the kids along on meet ups is not so fun. I was off and my pictures reflected this. Many weren't in focus. I got what could have been some brilliant shots of a woman doing yoga next to a waterfall. I even had the courage to tell her and get her email address to send her the images. And they all stink! So bummed. I'm going to offer to meet her back there and take them for her for practice if she's interested.
he is pretty!!!!! love his stripes
August 1st, 2013  
This is a great capture, not sure I would get that close.
August 1st, 2013  
cool shot
August 1st, 2013  
It's nice going out with a 365er. Hope you had fun.
August 1st, 2013  
eww. ;) Glad I didnt see that when I was there. LOL. Hope you guys had fun yesterday!
August 1st, 2013  
Very cool snake... I'm envious!
August 1st, 2013  
YIKES! Beautiful but. . . . a little scary.
August 1st, 2013  
I would have screamed for sure. Fabulous shot Amanda. What a gorgeous animal.
August 1st, 2013  
Looks like a big snake
August 1st, 2013  
I think it's neat that he is coiled up on something that looks coiled up too, nice catch.
August 1st, 2013  
Great capture....the eyes! I hope this guy was behind a glass case...you look pretty close!! How fun to meet up with fellow 365ers!!
August 1st, 2013  
Oh my… I really dislike snakes. Nice shot!
August 1st, 2013  
@eyesmile Nope, no glass. It was lying there in the wild/woods. And I did get pretty close, but didn't feel threatened. It just sat there watching me. And it is so fun to hang with fellow camera freaks and 365ers.
August 1st, 2013  
Nice shot.
August 1st, 2013  
Grear capture - it looks quite a big beast!
August 1st, 2013  
Great capture and cool shot but gosh I would have run faster than I ever ran in my life is faced with this! They scare the hell out of me, something about their split tongue is not right :-)!!
August 1st, 2013  
He is stunning - fabulous dof too - I have serious photo opportunity envy.
August 1st, 2013  
Shot it? Were you packing heat? Oh wait, camera. Yeah. I would have screamed. Great shot. So happy for you and Meg to have met up. Such a blessing!
August 1st, 2013  
Brave shot, I would not have got this close!
August 1st, 2013  
@snaggy How is this for dangerous? You know I am not trying to be. We are not really encouraging each other to be stupid, right?:)
August 1st, 2013  
You are brave - meeting this snake would totally freak me out! Great focus in the right place. Hope the yoga lady takes you up on your offer.
August 1st, 2013  
@megmills And here was our little snake friend. Hope I wasn't foolish to get so close?
August 1st, 2013  
@bobfoto Yeah. See, we have cool critters in OH, too. Is he not tasty? Snake soup perhaps?

@kittikat Do you all see many snakes around you? Does NZ have cool reptiles like Australia does? Thanks, Kitti. It was a pretty cool sighting. Not often are they coiled up and still when you see them.
August 1st, 2013  
Meg
Wow you captured it beautifully with the blues and its eye! It was fun to meet up with you and your very well behaved, sweet kids! Let's go again soon.
August 1st, 2013  
Magnificent capture, I've seen a few snake in the past but they were all crossing the road. Lovely coils and brave capture.
August 1st, 2013  
How sweet of you to welcome Meg. Great shot.
August 1st, 2013  
@anazad511 Welcome, Meg, Now look at this snake. How funny, huh? It is always so nice to meet a fellow photographer, though. Thanks, Ana!!
August 1st, 2013  
Nice one! I hope that you had a terrific time together (you and Meg, not you and the snake!)
August 1st, 2013  
Nice coiled capture... Hope you and Meg had a great day
August 1st, 2013  
@steampowered Oh the snake and I got very cozy;-). Thanks, Paul!
August 1st, 2013  
You are VERY brave, nice one
August 1st, 2013  
Can totally see what you mean Amanda!!! Bring on the ducklings!!!! Seriously though, great snake shot - love of those coils of coloured scales!
You are rocking the 365 meet-ups - sounds great, distractions aside!!! Yoga and waterfalls, sound like a great shot in the making... : )
August 1st, 2013  
Kev
@amandal I don't think we need to, do we? We seem to do well enough without encouraging each other, lol. If we did, we'd be in real trouble! Let's see if we last the year! Great shot, btw!
August 2nd, 2013  
Cool shot and how scary. Not sure I would have been able to take a photo. Nicely done though and love the clarity of its head and eye. Nice to have another person from 365 to take photos with.
August 2nd, 2013  
Rob
Nice capture! Love the patterns of the scales!
August 2nd, 2013  
@moreyoulessme Love the expression packing heat. Not today. Just my kids and my camera. Bang. I shot it that way. Love that I have a new 365 friend who is local. We've got a decent sized group here. Such a blessing indeed:).
August 2nd, 2013  
@amandal NZ has some very cool lizards - the Tuatara is worth a google - but no snakes - I lived in Australia for a while and worked in a herpetarium for a while - loved handling the beauties - but they were used to being handled.
August 2nd, 2013  
Wow! What a find! Great shot of him! He is a beauty. So fun that you met up with Meg. You have a great 365 group going in your area. Lucky duck!
August 2nd, 2013  
Glad you clarified who Meg was --- I was thinking what a clever reptile... yikes huge snake
August 2nd, 2013  
What a brave girl you are, Amanda! And what fun to meet up with another 365-er! :)
August 2nd, 2013  
@zambianlass You are fun. Thanks, my friend:)!
August 2nd, 2013  
Very colourful snake skin - great shot :)
August 2nd, 2013  
Lovely spotting, Amanda. Beautiful, like the way he looks at me... a very brave shot!
August 2nd, 2013  
Nice capture.
August 2nd, 2013  
Woah, thats an amazing shot (:
August 2nd, 2013  
Your never going to get me to take a photo of a snake. I would be running around screaming like a little girl. I get goose bumps just looking at photos of them. But I can't seem to turn away. Nice shot.
August 2nd, 2013  
@wildernesswillie It's got a hypnotizing look going on here, huh? I scream like a little girl when startled in nature and when geese try to attack me.
August 2nd, 2013  
@roseolivia Your comment cracks me up. Thanks for that, friend!!:)

@cheribug @savannayasmeen1 @shannonshots @amrita21 @darrenboyj @kareenking @pflaume @jdr4690 @darsphotos @snaggy @rennes @httpgeffed @sugarmuser @tonydebont @megmills @happysnap @malc @shepherdman @hopelessromantic @kwind @bpaquette @michaelelliott @masosy @mcmary @katiebrenkert @cathrinemitch @softbootsailer @bristolrose

Thanks all so much for your comments on my snake shot. It was cool to see and was very big. I loved that it was just posing for me, which is pretty unusual from what I've seen in the wild before. And I am loving having so many meet ups in one week. 365 friends are the best:). Happy weekend and watch out for snakes;-). I think that this post lost me a follower. Perhaps some people hate our scaly friends.
August 2nd, 2013  
Yikes! Brave girl, cool shot
August 2nd, 2013  
wow fascinating creature! love the focus on eye!
August 2nd, 2013  
oh no---I hate this creature but salute u for bravery :)
August 2nd, 2013  
@amandal @wildernesswillie - We now know Wilderness Willie's weakness... and Amanda admits to squealing once again.
August 2nd, 2013  
@bobfoto Yep been thinking about it and two different times I have see wild black bears. Both times when I notice them they were only 10 feet away and I was clam a cool and just walked away from them. But snakes make my skin crawl. Also had my car break down in the early morning hours. Dark with no moon but I started walking to town. As I walked I heard claws on the black topped road. I looked be hind me to see something about the size of a cat, black and white. I thought skunk and took off running. After running about a 100 feet I slowed down to only here them claws again, This time I ran about a 100 yards before I started walking. Just saying skunks also make me run.
August 3rd, 2013  
@wildernesswillie - Oh one time, I walked out to a dam nearby my house. I wanted some sunrise shots, so I headed out in the dark. Living in the tropics, it is still nice and warm first thing in the morning and has I was headed out onto this spit into the water, the thought of snakes entered my mind. In the shadow of my torch I swore I saw the biggest python down by my feet. I goose-stepped and hustled further out onto the spit, looking behind me to see if it were a snake coiled up in the dark. Nothing but a large thing splashed into the water nearby.... crocodile? Turtle? NFI. I sat at the edge of the Dam filling my Kimbies thinking about what was in the inky darkness.
August 3rd, 2013  
@bobfoto Just trying to make our friend feel better for squealing like a girl;-). I went on a snipe hunt once and swear we were chased by wild boar. I may have yelled a bit.
August 3rd, 2013  
@wildernesswillie @amandal - Oh I've been amongst a few wild pigs... crazy buggers they are, no sense to them.
August 3rd, 2013  
@bobfoto Crazy buggers indeed. Hope that I don't run into any this week. Such pigs!
August 4th, 2013  
@amandal - Stay safe.
August 4th, 2013  
Thanks.. I'll try. @bobfoto
August 4th, 2013  
I'm not so sure I would of got that close!
Yes - kids you got to love them, but at times making the shot difficult :)
August 5th, 2013  
@amandal @bobfoto I knew you said something about a snipe hunt before the weekend got in the way. And a lot of people have had that one happen. But my family has two dirty tricks it likes to play on the kids. One is called stars up a coat sleeve. You get the unknowing kid to lie on the floor in the house with a coat over his head. All along telling him he will see stars right through the roof if he looks through the sleeve. Help him by holding the sleeve of the coat up so he or she can see you, Ask them if they can see you then ask them if they can see any stars. That's when your helper in this dirty trick dumps a glass of water down the sleeve. The other one is good around Halloween. It is called fitting for a coffin. You sell it to the kid as a scary game and you have them lay on the floor with a blanket over them. You tell them to play dead and you need to measure them arms hands head telling them their dead and not to move. Then feet as you measure the feet pull the pant leg of the jeans tight on the top of the leg making like a funnel on the bottom of the pant leg. Then the friend comes with the water and dumps it in the pant leg. They don't feel the water entill it hits their butt.
August 6th, 2013  
@wildernesswillie - bags not laying down on the floor anywhere near you at a party.
August 6th, 2013  
@wildernesswillie @bobfoto What Jason said! :)
August 6th, 2013  
Thanks for clarifying that this is not Meg! Though my hat was about to go off to you for welcoming a snake into the 365 fold! She's a beauty!!
August 7th, 2013  
@tabbycat Ha...glad to keep it straight. Thanks! NYC? How was it?
August 14th, 2013  
@amandal Well, I was only there for one day, and it was hot, humid and the grass was wet! :-( Still, I had a good time, and crossed a few things off my bucket list. Will be spending the final week of my trip there, and will be sure to connect with some 365ers then!
August 14th, 2013  
@tabbycat Cool...hope it's more memorable and photographable the second time around. Say hi to the 365ers there from me!
August 14th, 2013  
Ssssssnake! Cool that you got the tip of his tail in the shot, too.
September 1st, 2013  
@pasadenarose It was cool to come upon a coiled snake in the wild. Thanks, lady. Loved that all of it was in there, too.:) Sssssssweet of you to notice that:)!
September 1st, 2013  
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