Ryan's Journal

When I was traveling in Japan with Brian and the Origami Tanteidan crew, we stopped at the Ishikawa Insect Museum, an amalgamation of both preserved and live species, including a live butterfly hut. I had the wrong lens for making a photographic study at the time. It really calls for a macro lens, though a telephoto can be useful in Ishikawa - the hut is enormous.

There's a butterfly house exhibit in Silver Spring, MD, at the Wheaton Regional Park, taking up a smallish conservatory space (sidebar: Garmin does not know anything about census-designated places such as North Potomac or Wheaton, despite their use in postal addresses; use Gaithersburg or Silver Spring accordingly). The size does not begin to compare to Ishikawa, but that makes the use of a macro lens - which now I have - all the more gratifying, as I'm sure it was for all the other SLR owners wandering the house.

I don't know what the appeal will be beyond a few minutes for anybody who isn't a nature photographer or a lepidopterist, but do follow the advice offered by the curators to come early or come late and avoid the crowd. The rest of the grounds are also a macro playground, with flowers of all sorts awaiting their turn in the spot meter. The grounds at Wheaton are strikingly well managed, and it's clear many of the grounds workers enjoy their responsibilities and roles.

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