Collection Photo Shoot Entry

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Your Collection

Have something you collect? Then this is the Photo Shoot for you:

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Let us see your collection of whatever it is you collect. Thimbles, NASCAR collectables, Star Trek figurines -- what it is, let's see those tchotchkes!

I found this assignment at http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/5099

I wanted to show off my fish collection. I don't have many, but I love to collect fish, which I suppose is my way of relating to my husband's interest of catching fish. He also has pursued his interest even further by building a pond in our front yard, where he maintains a quiet, natural style habitat for keeping Koi.

However, we have one thing in common when it comes to fish: we like eating them, at least the salt-water variety. We both enjoy watching the koi and catfish swimming around the outdoor pond as well.

For me, the collecting began at a super flea market held one year in Burlington. That's where I  found the two older pieces (the brown one in front second from left, and the blue whale-like creature toward the back left, between the soapstone and the great wood fish.

The little blue and white one in front middle I bought at a North Carolina Aquarium, but I don't remember which one. That was also many years ago. It's hand made from clay, painted and glazed, very heavy for its small size. There's a small wooden one in the front row, I found at one of the shops in Concord Mall, and the blue and white porcelain one on the right is very delicate. Found it near Beaufort on one of our trips to the coast during the past five or six years. The two soapstone fish at far left and far right in the back were found in a mall shop in Chapel Hill back when Steven was an undergrad at Carolina. They were on sale, and I had to have them. The large wood fish in the middle back comes all the way from Jamaica. I wanted a souvenir to bring home from our cruise on the Caribbean three years ago, and there were hand carved fish at every stop, so I picked this one up. The wood grain colors and the carving marks make it interesting to look at and hold. The little blue and white fish in the front far left is made from some kind of wood, painted. It's actually a whistle. Makes a pleasant sound very much like a flute. Can you see the two brass goldfish? They are a dark green, very heavy.  I don't have any koi, however, I am looking for one to add to my collection.

My husband collects fish, too. The real, water-breathing, swimming, alive in the pond kind. If you look at the pictures (2-4), you can see a few of the koi. He has about thirty altogether. There was a time when he had near a hundred, but that was when he kept goldfish in the pond as well. He's removed the goldfish since they were a thriving population and were reproducing too quickly. There are catfish in the pond with the koi, however, the catfish aren't showing up very well in these photos. The black ones are hard to see in this dark water, but the white one stands out pretty good.

These fish are for viewing pleasure only... the only fishing that goes on in this pond is when Steve has to net them to remove them for relocation purposes, like when he remodels the pond, or is searching for a hole in the liner.

The biggest difference between his collection and mine is that his fish are higher maintenance then mine! His cost more than mine, they eat more than mine, they sometimes die, and there's all that yard work to keep everything looking as good as it does. Most visitors like his fish more than mine.

Thanks, John, for the assignment!