This is a distillation of information I gathered from a wide variety of sources as part of my study of imaginal cells. While it was easy to find plenty of beautiful stories about caterpillars changing into butterflies; it required much more to discover scientific validation of cells that sound more like a John Lennon song than a topic of study in a biology class.

The most creditable information came from Dr. Molly Weaver and Dr. Mark A. Krasnow at the Department of Biochemistry, Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. (Ph.D.) Weaver has done extensive research to answer questions such as: When tissues are damaged, what kinds of cells replace them, and how are they recruited?  Dr. (M.D. & Ph.D.) Krasnow is Professor and Chair of Biochemistry at Stanford University. Their report, “Dual Origin of Tissue-Specific Progenitor Cells in Drosophila Tracheal Remodeling,” convinced me that my investigative time was well spent and that imaginal cells were indeed legitimate.

I’ve done my best to "translate” what I read into language that is familiar to those of us who do not have a Ph.D. in biochemistry. Unfortunately, this means I excluded some wonderful terms, such as fate mapping, molecular timer and multipotent state. I love those!

A caterpillar buries itself inside its cocoon and then slowly begins to transform into a butterfly or, more commonly, a moth. It doesn’t merely shrink and then sprout wings inside there; instead, it first disintegrates into a mass of ooze within the cocoon. If we were to open the cocoon halfway through the process, we would not find a half-caterpillar, half-butterfly creature, but a blob of goop (See, no technical terms!).

What happens next within this ooze is the appearance of a new type of cell, much in the same way a mental image appears in our mind. The pre-existing cells don’t change into these new cells; the new cells just seem to come out of nowhere. These are the imaginal cells.

At this amazing point in the life cycle, the imaginal cells “wake up.” During this activation, the imaginal cells are instinctively drawn to one another. When enough of them connect, they become the genetic directors of the future of the caterpillar. The exact amount of imaginal cells that must connect in order for the caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation to take place is unknown, but it appears to be less than 50%. At that crucial point, the other cells begin to putrefy and become a nutritive soup – feeding the imaginal cells while they create the miracle of the butterfly.

As the process continues, some imaginal cells change into wing cells, some change into antenna cells, some into digestive tract cells, and so on. In other words, they are no longer imaginal cells, but become specific butterfly tissue cells. By the time the butterfly emerges from its cocoon, it is impossible to find any imaginal cells in its body.

About 60 years ago, Walt Disney started using the word “Imagineering” to describe his process of designing and constructing the Disney theme parks and other forms of entertainment. That term is a pretty good description today of what we now know is behind the creation of a butterfly.

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, 
the master calls a butterfly.  – Richard Bach

~Jim

Beacon Hill Park held a colony of Great Blue Herons for many years, with nearly 300 of the large birds gathering at one time in a few trees near Goodacre Lake. Three years ago they all left and the rookery fell silent. Now a few have returned and the huge nest builders have crafted their homes in some new trees near the lake.

I spent the afternoon there yesterday, watching the herons soar over the lake and listening to the excitement they generated in the visitors of all ages. There were plenty of other birds too, but the Great Blue Herons stole the show every time they spread their wide wings (that span up to 2 meters!) and took off.

Please note that these grand birds are on the provincial Blue List of vulnerable species compiled by the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks. I’m hopeful we can learn from our mistakes to help these herons to once again thrive.

You can enjoy a wide variety of photographs of Great Blue Herons in my Galleries. Just click on the image of the heron below to see them. But if you can visit Beacon Hill Park and see them in person, do that instead. It’s a trip worth taking.  

~Jim          

The masterful musicians at Sunblossom Records, Kiki Carter Webb and Greg Webb, just released a music video of one of my favourite songs, Dear John (Lennon). Listening to the song by itself was a powerful and moving experience; but now that they have added the video —wow!

I was lucky enough to be invited to collaborate with them on this soulful endeavour and, if you’re familiar with my Nature Photos, you’ll recognize some of them during the last half of the video.

Their video, complete with lyrics, can be viewed here: http://dancinglight.us/dearjohn.html 

Enjoy!

~Jim  

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
        ~Kahlil Gibran

Today is Earth Day – a day for demonstrating our love for Mother Earth. 

When I was a teenager, I planted a sprouting acorn in our yard. Today, there is a HUGE oak tree there and I am amazed and grateful every time I see it. Planting a tree is one of the most personally rewarding and environmentally beneficial things we humans can do. Beyond the pure joy of it, each tree we plant . . . 

¼  absorbs carbon dioxide, removing and storing the carbon while releasing the oxygen back into the air. 

¼  absorbs odours and pollutant gases (nitrogen oxides, ammonia, sulphur dioxide and ozone) and filters particulates out of the air by trapping them on their leaves and bark. 

¼  provides oxygen for us to breathe. 

¼  reduces runoff by breaking rainfall, thus allowing the water to flow down the trunk and into the earth below the tree. This prevents storm water from carrying pollutants to the ocean. 

¼  slows runoff and holds soil in place on hillsides or stream slopes. 

Celebrate this Earth Day by planting a tree! 

~Jim 

When I started this website, I chose the most environmentally friendly web hosting company I could find. That was over two years ago and I’m SO happy I made that decision back then because I have contributed far more to the well-being of our planet through that choice than through all the light bulbs I have replaced with energy efficient lighting.

My web host is 100% powered by Certified GREEN Renewable Energy Sources – in other words, TOTALLY GREEN! That alone would be worth it in my book to choose this web host but fortunately the benefits didn’t stop there.

I tried several other web hosting companies in the past and none of them gave me anywhere near the level of service and reliability that this one does. Plus, I use their free website builder to create and update the pages on my website all by myself! It’s a kind of website-for-dummies tool that lets me avoid having to pay a webmaster to do it for me. They also pay for my domain name (beaconhillphotos.com) registration and they renew it for me every year – all at no extra cost to me. If you have your own domain name already, they will even transfer it for you and begin to pay for it.  

Just click on the image of the Earth below and it will take you to a page on my site that will provide you with more information and access to the best discounts they offer. It really does make a significant difference to GO GREEN this way!

Many thanks,
~Jim    

If you are wondering what to do about climate change, here is the answer. The Climate Challenge is an interesting, informative and inspiring book. It is sub-titled, 101 Solutions to Global Warming; Getting Serious About Climate Challenge, and its author, Guy Dauncey, has simplified the issues of global warming and climate change so that all of us can get effectively involved, doing what we can, right where we are.

~Jim   

I have received a great deal of feedback about my nature photos over the years and I noticed something surprising about which photos people like best. I thought images of Bald Eagles, hummingbirds, wildflowers and waterfalls would evoke the most passionate responses but it turns out to be spiders and their webs that move people to write and say “wow!”

In the early morning, when the fog and dew have decorated the spider webs with “jewels,” I sometimes stop and look across a field through hundreds of webs reflecting the rising sun through countless, brilliant strands of lights. And if you get really close with a magnifying glass or a camera lens that will take micro images, you can see some amazing things inside those webs! 

Just click on the spider below to see some of these weavers of delight inside Gallery #2 (“Spider in Web on Dewy Morning”) and Gallery #3 (“Spider Web Universe”). Then go outside at dawn one morning and find some of your own!
-Jim    

What kind of person would want to go outside and take photographs of birds, plants, animals, rivers, oceans, mountains or the sky? What’s so great about Nature anyway?

The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration.  ~Claude Monet

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.  ~John Muir

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.  ~Lao Tzu

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.  ~Helen Keller

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.  ~William Shakespeare

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.  ~From the book and movie, A River Runs Through It, by Norman Maclean. 
                     
Go outside and enjoy this rich source of inspiration!

-Jim

Emily Carr (1871 – March 2, 1945) was a Canadian artist and writer who drew inspiration from nature and from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. She grew up in the Victoria, BC neighbourhood where I now live and she explored and enjoyed the same territory where I take most of my nature photographs. 

I love it when I receive an email from some distant place telling me, “I am reading all of Emily Carr's books right now so it was quite serendipitous to come across these (photos) and see a bit more of her world.” These kinds of messages remind me of the power of nature to inspire artists, writers, photographers, musicians, poets, architects, and readers and to be the common ground and common language of all peoples and all times. 

I visited Emily Carr’s home recently and I learned she is buried nearby with a new gravestone that is carved with her own words:

Dear Mother Earth! I think I have always specially belonged to you. I have loved from babyhood to roll upon you, to lie with my face pressed right down on to you in my sorrows. I love the look of you and the smell of you and the feel of you. When I die, I should like to be in you – uncoffined, unshrouded, the petals of flowers against my flesh, and you covering me up.

Who could read those words and not feel her wild passion for Nature!

When I’m outdoors with my camera, I sometimes remember Emily Carr and how she walked the same coastline and trails I do. Maybe it’s my imagination but I swear it changes my perspective and I begin to see with the eye of the Artist – filled with wonder and appreciating nature’s elegant simplicity . . . unpredictable flows . . . subtle variations of light . . . profound stillness . . . snap!

-Jim 

Although I’m not a “birder” per se, I do follow many birds as part of my nature photography. Consequently, I have met and befriended many bird lovers, including wildlife biologists, people with spotting scopes that have optics I’m sure the military would envy, and amazing artists like Anne Hansen. She’s a knitter, urban cyclist, photographer and painter (acrylic on canvas). You can learn more about her and see some of her work at: http://www.oystercatchergirl.blogspot.com

Anne is also a writer and today she gave me a copy of an article she wrote from an interview with me. It has just been published in a local magazine – The Victoria Naturalist and it’s titled, The 10-Block Diet of Flora and Fauna: Getting to Know Nature in Your ‘Hood.

Don’t let the title fool you; this is not a technical article. Somehow, she got me to share more than I usually do about my past, the intention behind my work and the photography equipment I used to capture the shots on my website.

You can read it all by clicking here . . .  

-Jim 

A new nature video – Natural Light – has just been released. It offers a visual tour of Vancouver Island’s amazing flora, fauna, views and vistas and a visceral experience of Nature’s beauty. The soundtrack was graciously provided by Kirtana, a singer and songwriter who has inspired audiences around the world with her musical expression of the Natural Light found in one and all. The song is Parrish Light, found on her album A Deeper Surrender. To learn more about Kirtana, her music and her live performances, go to www.kirtana.com.

I took all the photographs in the video (except one) on the southern part of Vancouver Island, between Victoria, BC and Botanical Beach. The images reveal the Island’s diversity and the experiences available to anyone who ventures into Mother Nature’s gifts and surprises. One of my surprises you’ll see was the deer that walked out of the woods and onto the shelf of tide pools at Botanical Beach. It slowly walked out to me, occasionally pausing to look into the tide pools along the way. When it reached the edge of the rocks by the ocean, it stopped (a few feet away from me!) and gazed out at the waves. There was clearly no food for it out there and the place where it left the forest provided a fresh stream with plenty of water. Yes, it was there for the same reasons I was – curiosity and appreciation of the ocean sights, sounds and smells.

Click here to watch it now >>> NATURAL LIGHT VIDEO

-Jim