Jennifer Quen | Photography – Blog

This week I had the chance to attend NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences.  I’ve heard really good things about it, and for $10, it was definitely worth a visit.  The doors opened at 6:00 p.m.; we arrived about 1/2 an hour later.  :P By the time we got there, seats for the planetarium were all gone.  I was a little bummed, but there was still so much to see!  My only advice would be to GET THERE EARLY.  Get there earlier than early – maybe 5:00-ish to guarantee passes to the planetarium and free street parking.  It was much more crowded than I expected, but again, for $10, I really could not complain!  All in all, it was a great experience and I would definitely go for another visit!

[below] ··  The exhibit on the giant tortoises of the Galapagos Islands.  These creatures are fascinating!

[below] ·· I think this was a rattlesnake.  Someone can correct me if I’m wrong.

[below] ·· Guess who!

[below] ·· Check out those gills.

[below] ·· The Giant Chinese Salamander – it’s crazy big.  At first glance, I couldn’t tell the front from the back.

[below] ·· Uni.  Yum?

[below] ·· I forget what this is.  Does anyone know?

[below] ·· I hope nothing bad happened to the previous tenant…

[below] ·· The Giant Bass.  These huge fish live to be up to 100 years.  They continue growing as they age.  This particular one is at least 165 pounds at 70 years old.  Woah.

[below] ·· The previous picture doesn’t do the bass’ name justice.  Here is the side-by-side with James.

[below] ·· One more of the Giant Bass.  I really could not get enough of it.  It was so intriguing to me.

[below] ·· Sand dollars.

[below] ·· A beautiful bouquet of sea anemone.

[below] ·· Upside down jellyfish.

[below] ·· Hadouken!!!

[below] ·· I stumbled across this dragonfly at a wedding I shot this past weekend.  My first impression yielded fear – the immediate ’sweat-coming-out-of-every-gland-possible’ kind of fear.  (For those who don’t know, I am extremely afraid of most creatures that aren’t mammal or fish by nature.)  The first time I came across it while shooting the wedding ceremony, I took an alternate route just to avoid it.  Essentially, I walked an additional 200 steps, in what could have taken 3 steps.  This was probably not the most efficient thing to do, but it was definitely the most calming for me.  I mean, look at those eyes!  I could feel them watching me from every angle.  And don’t let the proportions of its body in this photo fool you.  This thing was at least 5 inches in length.  No joke.  The second time I encountered it, I held my breath and summoned the courage to walk past it.  I even took a picture of it!  And now, looking at the detailed image, I am in awe.  This dragonfly is not so dragon-like after all.  It’s actually very beautiful.  After all, GOD did create it.  Now if only I could start thinking of spiders in the same way…….NAH.

At the end of it all, this dragonfly did not have a happy ending.  During the ceremony, I was trying to silently signal to the other photographer that there was a dragonfly in front of him.  He didn’t understand my awesome hand-signaling skills and stepped on the dragonfly.  :( The dragonfly did not survive the impact.  So sad.  At least I got to honor his life by sharing this story and image with you.  HAPPY TUESDAY!