It’s grasshopper season and things are really hopping at Huntley Meadows Park. Every step that I took through the tall, dry grass earlier this week produced a small cloud of flying grasshoppers. Most of them settled back down in the tangled undergrowth, but occasionally one would perch on a stem for a moment, giving me an unobstructed view.
As I was going over my photos, I was struck by the diversity of sizes, shapes, and colors of the grasshoppers that I found in a single small meadow. Most of the time I try hard to identify the species of my subjects, but this time I simply want to celebrate their beauty and the amazing details of their bodies.
The word “grasshopper” is special to me also because it is the term of endearment that my photography mentor, Cindy Dyer, uses for me. You have to be pretty old to remember the old television series “Kung Fu” that was set in the Wild West that starred David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine. As a child, Caine studied to be a monk at a Shaolin monastery, where Master Po referred to him as “Grasshopper,” in reference to this scene in the pilot episode, according to Wikipedia, a scene whose message I have always liked and try to remember.”
“Master Po: Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Caine: No.
Po: Do you hear the grasshopper which is at your feet?
Caine: Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?”
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Caine: No.
Po: Do you hear the grasshopper which is at your feet?
Caine: Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Well, that’s me officially old then! 🙂
As the old cliché goes, getting old may not be great, but it sure beats the alternative. 🙂
Very true 🙂
Fantastic post, Mike. I enjoyed the wisdom reference, and your grasshopper photos are fantastic. I like that first photo a lot — really cool.
Thanks, Jet. I usually lead with my favorite shot and this post was no exception. I was happy to be able to take that shot from an unusual angle.
Nice post Mike and I love the first image in particular… Such detail! And I too remember the reference to Grasshopper!
Thanks, Chris. The first shot is my favorite one too–I love shooting with my macro lens precisely because it lets me capture amazing details like the antennae of the grasshopper.
The Caine and Po references are still very fresh in memory–I loved that series. I’ve not seen anything like your third hopper. It, and the subject of your second shot, have such angular heads that they appear to be possibly closely related to katydids.
I think the one in the third shot might be a slant-faced grasshopper, though I am not sure of the ID.