The Daily Norm Photo of the Week: Il Grillo Parlante

Whenever The Daily Norm focuses in on a particular photo, that photo is more often than not a nature shot. For there is nothing quite so beautifully complex as the work of mother nature, especially the little beasties that she has gathered around the earth. And this week’s offering is no exception, for following hot on the heels of my Tuscany exposé is a spectacular little resident of the region who we happened to meet one sunny morning over coffee in the town of Campiglia Marittima. Meet Jiminy Cricket himself, a right royal example of this bandy legged wonder, sat aloofly in a lush leafy plant neighbouring our table as we sat nonchalantly sipping cappuccino in the sun.

With his large oval eyes casting side glances at the viewer, and dappled wings whose complex pattern looks like a cracked ceramic tile or a Roman mosaic, this insect is truly a beauty, and I was delighted to achieve this closeup without the said spectacle jumping swiftly out of sight. But I also love other aspects of the photo too, such as the soft defocus of the cobweb in the immediate foreground which has the appearance of rainbow electrics shooting through the air.

It seems appropriate that this marvellous cricket should have been found in amongst the verdant landscape of Italy, for Jiminy Cricket himself, perhaps the most famous cricket of them all and illustrated character of Disney’s Pinocchio was of course based on a character of Italian author  Carlo Collodi‘s original Pinocchio tales, a character whose simple name, The Talking Cricket (Il Grillo Parlanate) takes the name of this post.