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Those shots are amazing! Very cool. Have you gotten stung yet? :) > The only way I've ever found to make this make sense is to make a profession, or at least

Those shots are amazing! Very cool. Have you gotten stung yet? :) > The only way I've ever found to make this make sense is to make a profession, or at least a hobby, of photography. I recently got my first "real" camera to take better pictures of my family inspired by this thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33104618#33123207 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33104618#33123207 I definitely wouldn't have gotten one if weren't for the inspiration of my kid, however I've grown quite fond of using it and learning more about taking good photos. It's been a nice creative outlet outside of coding.

throwanem 4y ago
> Have you gotten stung yet? Nope! The last time I got stung was more than a decade ago now, long before I ever even got interested in photography as an adult, much less found in it an accidental avenue to almost entirely getting over what fear of wasps I had. (And in entire fairness, I should note that the yellowjacket who stung me that time had been blown into my lap through an open car window, and I dropped my hand on her before I knew she was there. Even then I considered her to have acted entirely within her rights - I was just glad she'd happened to fall on her back!) Wasps have a reputation for being needlessly and boundlessly belligerent, but all I can say is that, over the course of several years now spending as much time in their close company as I'm able, I've found that reputation to be totally unjustified, and wasps themselves to be just trying to get through the day, same as anyone. It might help that I'm not afraid of them, and thus don't reek of anger and fear hormones in their presence. It's unclear how extensive a theory of mind they have for mammals, but much of their communication and sensory experience is known to revolve around olfaction; given that many mammals will happily if hazardously raid wasp nests in search of nutritious brood, it would be no surprise to learn that wasps recognize the stink of human flop sweat as indicative of a kind of danger they will fight, heedless of risk, to deter. That hornet was in many ways a special case, though - the first I've ever seen close enough to, and who spent long enough in one place, to even try for a shot. Paper wasps rarely seem to notice my presence, yellowjackets often do but rarely much care, but I could see that hornet was watching me and didn't entirely appreciate my attention. When she decided she'd had enough, she left the tree on a heading that led to a very close pass alongside my head, enough so that I could all but feel the breeze off her wings, and certainly enough to hear quite loudly the markedly deep hum of her flight. Wasps butt and ram as part of both defense and communication, and I took being buzzed as the latter - specifically, as a clear statement that, upon her return, she'd quite rather I be elsewhere. To be clear, I don't think she would have attacked me if I hadn't made myself scarce, but she probably wouldn't have come back to the fig tree with its bounty of both nutrition and ethanol, and it would've been rude of me to make her feel she had to skip it. I've had many similar experiences - ask me some time how I first learned that fig tree was a highly popular spot with late-season foragers! So I think the problem most people have with wasps has really nothing at all to do with wasps themselves, who don't like to fight any more than anyone else does. But it takes more than one person to not have a fight, and I think humans mostly just can't be bothered to learn not to start one.

throwanem 4y ago

> Have you gotten stung yet? Nope! The last time I got stung was more than a decade ago now, long before I ever even got interested in photography as an adult, much less found in it an accidental avenue to almost entirely getting over what fear of wasps I had. (And in entire fairness, I should note that the yellowjacket who stung me that time had been blown into my lap through an open car window, and I dropped my hand on her before I knew she was there. Even then I considered her to have acted entirely within her rights - I was just glad she'd happened to fall on her back!) Wasps have a reputation for being needlessly and boundlessly belligerent, but all I can say is that, over the course of several years now spending as much time in their close company as I'm able, I've found that reputation to be totally unjustified, and wasps themselves to be just trying to get through the day, same as anyone. It might help that I'm not afraid of them, and thus don't reek of anger and fear hormones in their presence. It's unclear how extensive a theory of mind they have for mammals, but much of their communication and sensory experience is known to revolve around olfaction; given that many mammals will happily if hazardously raid wasp nests in search of nutritious brood, it would be no surprise to learn that wasps recognize the stink of human flop sweat as indicative of a kind of danger they will fight, heedless of risk, to deter. That hornet was in many ways a special case, though - the first I've ever seen close enough to, and who spent long enough in one place, to even try for a shot. Paper wasps rarely seem to notice my presence, yellowjackets often do but rarely much care, but I could see that hornet was watching me and didn't entirely appreciate my attention. When she decided she'd had enough, she left the tree on a heading that led to a very close pass alongside my head, enough so that I could all but feel the breeze off her wings, and certainly enough to hear quite loudly the markedly deep hum of her flight. Wasps butt and ram as part of both defense and communication, and I took being buzzed as the latter - specifically, as a clear statement that, upon her return, she'd quite rather I be elsewhere. To be clear, I don't think she would have attacked me if I hadn't made myself scarce, but she probably wouldn't have come back to the fig tree with its bounty of both nutrition and ethanol, and it would've been rude of me to make her feel she had to skip it. I've had many similar experiences - ask me some time how I first learned that fig tree was a highly popular spot with late-season foragers! So I think the problem most people have with wasps has really nothing at all to do with wasps themselves, who don't like to fight any more than anyone else does. But it takes more than one person to not have a fight, and I think humans mostly just can't be bothered to learn not to start one.