Spring having sprung, it’s also duckling season. On Sunday we saw our first brood of ducklings of the year—in fact, the first in many years. From a photographic viewpoint, the fascinating thing about ducklings is that they always look out of focus. Even when you know for a fact that the camera’s focus is perfect, somehow they still look a little fuzzy. The optical principles involved are, I’m sure, fascinating.

The first picture was taken on Monday evening near sunset. The second picture—which is in pretty good focus!—was taken on Tuesday morning.

April 9, 2018 — Irvine, California
April 10, 2018 — Irvine, California

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate