Here's Spit in Your Eye! © 1999 John A. Lind

• Olympus OM-4
• 35~105mm f/3.5~4.5 Zuiko Zoom
• Kodak Elitechrome 400
• 105mm in Close Focus; exposure data not recorded
• Hobson's Bluffdale, Eldred, Illinois, June 1999
• This is one of a series of "grab" shots.  Just after photographing the horse blankets I was walking by a thicket of bushes and noticed this snake on one of the branches.  Turned the close-focus ring on the lens and zoomed it out to 105mm.  Had to push some leaves and branches out of the way of the lens.  Since it was hand-held, keeping steady and in focus with a very shallow depth of field under these circumstances was difficult.  This was the sixth and last shot.  The snake was *not* happy at being disturbed waiting for a frog to hop by, hence its posture here.  Notice that it is staring straight at me and has "S'ed" its body.  Contrary to popular belief that a snakes coil before striking, this is the more common posture.  Coiling is also done, but takes longer.  Snakes cannot strike easily if completely stretched out.  It made a half-hearted lunge at the lens between the shot taken before this and this one.  After this shot I called it quits and left it alone to wait for its frog-leg dinner.