Decisions, decisions......

I just got a job offer to return to the position I retired from 4 years ago. The young guy who replaced me is an incredibly talented artist and photographer and has decided he wants to strike out on his own.Since I left they have added even more cutting edge optics and imaging technology that I would never be able to afford to buy for myself.I have been enjoying my retirement immensely, but at the same time I have chafed at not having the capability to perform the level of high magnification photomicrography that I did on the job.Tomorrow I am going to meet with my old boss and see what they offer. One thing that is not negotiable: I want to be able to take 10 weeks off per year.There are all sorts of other things to consider also, a major one is: do I want to start commuting 60 miles to work every day? And do I really want to be tied to a position where I do not get to choose most of my imaging projects?Decisions, decisions.......

Yep, the commute was really the only down side to the job for the 12 years I worked there.Everything else is part of tomorrow's discussion.I had not intended to retire before, but my cancer had just gone into remission and I had just survived a gangrenous gall bladder and septicemia. I also lost both my elderly parents that year after being their caregiver (along with my wife) for a number of years.I started thinking that maybe I should spend some time doing more stuff I liked and don't get me wrong, I am still having a blast being retired, but I do miss the job. It really is my dream job and not many people get to have one.

Thanks.

I ended up postponing until tomorrow. A urinary infection from a cistiscope bladder check last week.60 miles round trip.My wife pointed out that I can only take a limited appointment that limits me to working less than 90 days per year, otherwise I lose my pension and have to pay back all the pension I have already collected for the year. There would be some hassles with insurance also.What I will probably do is work as a volunteer, that way no one will complain if I want to work on some of my own projects. Well, that would be pretty cool...let me know if you find someone. I have a fairly nice collection of 16x24 prints.I am flattered they asked me, but realistically I have a bunch of research projects I'm working on and jt would be silly to take a full time job.

It went well. I had talks with my old boss (would still be), his boss (a new guy) and the division director (promoted from the position the new guy has) and they all want me to come back. The division director is the best boss I ever worked for......he saved our division gobs of money which he then used to upgrade our lab and he bought me all sorts of high end, cutting edge equipment.When I started working there in 2000 our part of the division was always in the red and the boss was an incompetent and an unqualified academic snob. It was amazing how things turned around when she was gone. The people I worked with were a great bunch of very dedicated scientists and I loved working there. Yep, it is 720 hours, so basically I can work 720 hours between now and the end of the year and the another 720 in 2017, but my wife did some research and she thinks that I might actually be able to work more and it would just suspend my pension until I retired again. Plus, it would build my mention a bit higher. Right now, if I die my pension continues for my wife (and her's for me), but I'm not sure what happens if I die while my pension is suspended. I am going to accept the job, spent 10 hours working already today. Right now the plan is to learn all I can of the neat stuff that the current guy has developed since I retired and then carry on while they try to find a replacement and then train that person.When I got home my wife asked me if I would really like to go back to work full time and the truth is, I would. It was an incredibly rewarding job and every day brought new challenges and every day I learned new things.When I started there the position of Insect Imaging Specialist did not exist. Now there are 2 full time people and 2 support staff and there are almost more imaging projects than they can handle. Lots of the images are used in computer based insect screening aids that are distributed to scientists and technicians at federal and state agencies to help them identify native species, but more importantly exotic invasive species. Global trade means that thousands of non-native species of insects are entering our country and threatening our forests and our agricultural crops. They run training workshops using our screening aids 3 to 4 times a year that fill up within the week they are announced.Most people don't think about it much, but everything all of us eat is produced by agriculture and there is a continuous battle to keep all sorts of pests from eating it all.It was a bit stunning to realize how much impact I had made when I worked there and what it has grown into.Thanks to all who commented and made suggestions.....after I've spent a couple months back on the job I may decide I don't want to continue working full time, but I think I will continue to go in a day or 2 a week even so. I might even earn enough for a new camera body I have been thinking about and also enough for a couple high quality microscope objectives that I really, really need.....~$3000 each. Anyway, Thanks! You guys are great!
Edited by Tanypteryx, : add important emoticon

Thanks!Ain't life cool !!The anti-science crowd will never get it.

That's nice of you to say. I'm glad you enjoy it.

Thanks! Yeah, the couch and TV are a deadly combination.I just wish I was 30 years younger (well, don't we all?). The photo-techniques I use are only possible using digital cameras. I wish they and the whole computer revolution had come along 30 years earlier.The technology existed 30 years earlier but not in the form of products anyone can own.I remember watch TV when the images were being received from the Voyager spacecraft as they flew by Saturn. The images didn't look like much at first, but then they were "enhanced" using the huge, multi-million dollar computer at JPL and suddenly we had those absolutely amazing shots of the rings. My friends and I looked at each other and said "someday we'll be able to do that."Here we are 40 years later and we can do SO much more.

And not just dragonflies. I will post some of the totally bizarre insects I am shooting. For example, some of the bark beetles (Scolytines) are not much bigger than a period on a printed page, but they have amazing sculpturing on their exoskeleton, function unknown. We can have all sorts of interesting discussions about how these various features evolved.

I spent the last 3 weeks working with the fellow who has had the position for the last 4 years. It was really fun learning his techniques and methods of shooting and processing images.We each have completely different workflows and I think learned a lot from each other.Friday was his last day, so tomorrow I am on my own, continuing work on a large shooting project he started, including processing several hundred images he had already shot.It was odd to see as he was packing up his personal stuff that he had left a lot of things exactly as I had left them, as if he was afraid to make the work space his own. It was nice that he had put up a lot of his artwork and photos on the walls though.I can only work until next March 15 if I work 40 hour weeks. I am hoping that even if they hire someone during that period I can work that long to train them on the equipment. That should give me enough extra cash to buy a new camera body and several new microscope objective lenses.

Yes, my objectives are lower power than that. Mitutoyo Infinity Corrected Long Working Distance ObjectivesI want a 5X, 10X, and 20X. It is surprising, though how much you can enlarge a very small subject when you have high resolution optics mounted on a good camera.We have a very nice Nikon compound scope that I want to use to photograph small pond life, but people are often surprised to find out that some of the shots we get were not from that scope but instead we from our Mitutoyo 20x mounted in front of a 150mm macro lens.My plan for my personal imaging system will be to mount the Mitutoyo objectives in front of my 200mm micro-Nikkor on a Nikon D810. The whole thing will be mounted on a Stackshot which I already have. STACKSHOT 3X EXTENDED MACRO RAILThis will all be mounted on a 300 lb steel optical bench for horizontal shooting or on heavy duty steel vertical carriage system for shooting vertically. Me too, but if I really need more magnification I will still be able to use the SEM at work. I am building a bunch of good will by helping them out right now. We have gotten some stunning images at 25,000X with it.Edited by Tanypteryx, : No reason given.

I will try and get some mammoth photos post this coming weekend. I got kind of sidetracked.

This first shot is of five segments or tarsomeres of a beetle foot. I made the image to illustrate the long spines on the 3rd tarsomere. This a beetle in the family Buprestidae or Jewel Beetles, Actenodes arizonicus. Another Jewel Beetle, Agaeocera scintillans showing the coxae or basal segment of the hind leg. You can also see light colored debris stuck on the exoskeleton next to the hind femur. Many Buprestids are wood borers so they often have fine particles stuck to them with tree resins.I really enjoy photographing these metallic colored insects. They often present real challenges to image them in ways to show surface topography as well as color and shinyness. The colors may be combinations of pigment and mechanical optical diffraction and sometimes the colors will change depending the angle they are viewed from or the angle that light is striking them. Enjoy

My job has kept me busy the last couple of months. I have been shooting a wide variety of subjects and enjoying every minute of it.These beetles belong to the family Carabidae. Carabids are all predators and this group in the photos all prey on snails, including some invasive species. They are all between 0.5 and 1 inch long. Cychrus hemphilii rickreckeriScaphinotus manniiScaphinotus merkeliiScaphinotus regularisScaphinotus relictusI added one more image because I just re-located my original focus stack and I have been wanting to rework it, because I have learned a lot since I originally shot it in 2009.This species is in the family Cerambycidae or the long-horned beetles. They are all woodborers as larvae may eat flowers or many other plant parts. There are some generalists but most species are specialists. Rhagium inquisitor, maleEnjoyEdited by Tanypteryx, : Added a final image.

These are pinned specimens that are air dried. They had an insect pin forced through the right elytra (wing cover) and the legs and antennae are positioned as desired and then held in place by other pins until the specimen is thoroughly dry. They kind of look like a pin cushion during this process. I sometimes have to clean and reposition old specimens before I can shoot them.Some entomologists just shove a pin through and call it good. Those make horrible photo subjects. These were mounted by my boss, who is very meticulous and especially so if they are going to be photographed. The setae are often fairly tough and flexible, but I have a reputation for breaking them and also legs off.Of course, all the specimens also have labels associated with them that lists the exact location, date, collector, plant they were found on, etc. We do shoot live specimens too. It can be fun trying to control bees and wasps in the lab while you shoot them. I have some closeup shots of the mouths that I can post tomorrow.