Options for the photographer on location in (rural) Manitoba:

1. The hundred meter dash: Set up your camera before the leaving the house/car. Lens cap off, meter settings set, bolted to tripod if needed. Get as close to your location as possible. Run to desired spot, grab a quick shot, run back to car. Time: 60 seconds or less. Mozzie bites: 60 or more.

2. Cross country sprint: Screw the tripod. With smaller camera, sprint across field grabbing as many blurry or panned shots as you can, while manually winding your film. Forget about framing anything. Time: Two minutes. Mozzie bites: 100 or more. Nutritional value: ten mozzies ingested while running, including two snorted up the nose.

3. Armchair photographer: Stay home and think about the shots you could be getting. Mozzie bites: Less than five.


Seriously -- I think the mosquitoes here in Manitoba have stingers (?) made of steel -- DEET and thick clothing seem to have no effect whatsoever. A bit frustrating since the best light around here coincides with feeding time.

What keeps you from getting the picture you want?

4. Large Format Relay. Set up gear as fast as you can then run about 100' away and just stand there until the bulk of the swarm finds you. Run back to compose the image while swarm follows you under the focusing cloth. Run away when it becomes unbearable...repeat as needed.

They can be bad out here, but I suspect yours are worse!

Murray

5. Avon Skin So Soft dry oil body spray. Keeps the bugs away like you wouldn't believe.

How about clothing made from fine net. I have a hat with a net that protects face and neck. I have seen but did not buy (mistake) shirts made from this netting at a hunting store (now closed). I should check some on line stores because if its hot and you really don't want to where a parka outside, it may be just the thing. Anyway, the hats work pretty good.

Military grade DEET in OD bottles is quite good, but you should take a good shower after you use it.

Here the mosquitos get so big and smart, the big smart ones shove the little ones through the screen until there are enough of them to lift the screen latches. Then they push the screen out and let the big ones in! :D

PE

5. Avon Skin So Soft dry oil body spray. Keeps the bugs away like you wouldn't believe.
Andy is absolutely correct.

Also three other things, if they are truly annoying you, spray your clothes or skin if you choose and I have, with Raid or Black Flag insect killer. They will not even come in for a look see.

IF it is HOT and you will sweat heavily, eat raw onions, or garlic. They do not like to even sit on a sweaty arms that smells like an Italian kitchen.

Third and hardest to get used to, I used weed the garden at sundown wearing just cut-off blue jeans when it was very warm. IF I did not want to go hunt down a can of spray, which if your sweating only lasts until it is sweated off and IF enough mosquitos bite you, usually on the back, your system goes into overload or something and after a little while you know something is not right as my back felt like someone had laid a warm blanket on it, but I felt no itches.

Now Buffalo Gnats, that is pure hell.
Those bastards leave me bloody, and I must have a slight allergic reaction to them for I also get a nasty headache a few hours after they have bloodied me up.

I'm just home from a trip to, amongst other places, Prince Edward County in Canada.. on my last day in the County I was asked to take some photos of the house for the owner. Stupidity and memory lapse took over and I set off merrily down by the lake, Camera in hand wearing nothing but shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops..

30+ mozzie bites, 7 spider bites and a slithery snake underfoot later I realised it might have been a good plan to wear full plate body armour and bathe in industrial strength deet instead. The little buggers bit through my clothes as well as the exposed bits.. To add to my pleasure, I have an allergic reaction to the little fu...err buggers and end up looking like I got beaten by an escaped swarm of tennis balls on speed..

We don't have mozzies here thankfully, we do however have midges who eat you relentlessly anywhere, but have a particular penchant for the facial area.. I guess I can be thankful the mozzies and spiders left my face alone.. But it'll be some time before I'm that stoopid again..

My advice? Wait til it snows before venturing out again.. or take up knitting!

I'm just home from a trip to, amongst other places, Prince Edward County in Canada.. on my last day in the County I was asked to take some photos of the house for the owner. Stupidity and memory lapse took over and I set off merrily down by the lake, Camera in hand wearing nothing but shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops..

30+ mozzie bites, 7 spider bites and a slithery snake underfoot later I realised it might have been a good plan to wear full plate body armour and bathe in industrial strength deet instead. The little buggers bit through my clothes as well as the exposed bits.. To add to my pleasure, I have an allergic reaction to the little fu...err buggers and end up looking like I got beaten by an escaped swarm of tennis balls on speed..

We don't have mozzies here thankfully, we do however have midges who eat you relentlessly anywhere, but have a particular penchant for the facial area.. I guess I can be thankful the mozzies and spiders left my face alone.. But it'll be some time before I'm that stoopid again..

My advice? Wait til it snows before venturing out again.. or take up knitting!
No-seeums=midges?

Just one mosquito is enough, he's bit me now I'm his meal ticket, he gets fat and bloated and still returns for more. He's fast, much faster than the Cockroach and it's a cat and mouse game now can I kill hime before he feeds again :D

The cockroach flew in, hid, prowled around, under the cooker, behind the fridge, I kept seeing this thing in the corner of my eye, I ambushed with insecticide he ran I ran after, he's probably swimming in the Aegean now :)

Mosquitoes & midges are very partially to Celtic blood !!!

Ian

Ian;

Boric acid powder will kill cockroaches with little effect if any on humans.

PE

Just one mosquito is enough, he's bit me now I'm his meal ticket, he gets fat and bloated and still returns for more. He's fast, much faster than the Cockroach and it's a cat and mouse game now can I kill hime before he feeds again

Mosquitoes & midges are very partially to Celtic blood !!!

Actually, it's the females that bite. I don't remember ever being so thoroughly attacked -- I think my blood must have a nice foreign flavour to it, since those around me don't seem to be as affected.

Trying to track down some Skin So Soft.... I guess the situation is worse than usual for all the rain we've beeen getting all summer. A lot of fields were like mini lakes and whatnot -- perfect breeding grounds for the little buggers.


6. Gettin' jiggy with it -- the absurb dance one does trying to get rid of the mosquitoes on one's body when you only have two hands available.

The problem with DEET is that it has a tendency to melt plastic (if used in high enough concentrations, which are also the most effective). I experienced this many years ago after putting on some Muskol (95% DEET at the time) and sitting outside in a lawn chair. After about half an hour I got up and the plastic lawn chair arms had partially melted and stuck to me a bit. That usually doesn't bode well for what it will do to your body, but no ill effects so far :)

In Manitoba you really just grin and bear it most of the time - although in the last few years there's been the added worry of possible West Nile virus carriers, but that's been actually pretty rare.

Rachelle, I long ago discovered the females were the most deadly of the species :D

I escaped the final ultimatum for 53 years, and then jumped in feet first :)

I met the midges in the very worst way about 4 years ago, I was camping in North Wales & went to wash in the stream, I was 150% covered in a black writhing mass, they'd just hatched, I don't smoke at all but blagged a cigarette from a nearby tent and puffed way using the smoke to help dislodge and deter the midges it took quite a time and I just crawled into my tent and hid. Next day they'd all gone.

Ian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx4BpSooMn0&NR=1

Mosquitoes & midges are very partially to Celtic blood !!!

I thought it was Japanese food they were after! I once went to Yosemite in spring and got bit UNDER the fingernail...how that skeeter got under there I'll never know. After getting out my DEET, they left me alone. Same trip: a guy was setting up his Crown Graphic near the river...He was wearing shorts and a tank shirt and I thought he had very hairy arms and legs except the hairs were moving. He was COVERED in mosquitoes. I gave him a break and gave him a spray down of my insect repellant. Geeez, that was gross!

mmmm Us Celts never got to Japan :D

But some say we founded Troy . . . .

Ian

Try a few bottles of Tabasco sauce. I love this ad.

http://www.tabasco.com/arts_pavilion/tv_ads/tabasco_mosquito_ad.cfm

Rachelle,


Setup tripod in car (usually wedging tripod legs around the car seat)
Maneuver car close to subject
Mind the reflections on the glass
Take photo


Do not wind down the windows, do not leave the car.
Wait until first killing frost for subjects that do not have car access!

Martin

mmmm Us Celts never got to Japan :D

But some say we founded Troy . . . .

Ian


No... but they got as far as China (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/a-meeting-of-civilisations-the-mystery-of-chinas-celtic-mummies-413638.html).

For those of you that want hard data ....

http://content.nejm.org/content/vol347/issue1/images/large/04t1.jpeg

Tests have repeatedly shown that DEET containing products hugely outperform everything else. The odd one out is the 2% soy oil that did pretty well.

For the bush, I have a significant stash of the illegal DEET that I am rationing (Canada made anything over 30% illegal - what an irony for a major mosquito breeding nation).

Yes, even military strength DEET in the US is 30%, but IIRC studies have shown that DEET can harm infants and young childrein. I remember that as the reason why DEET concentration was limited and still not recommended for use on children.

PE

as far as biting through the clothes go... i had good luck treating my clothes with permithin (sp) on my recent trips deep into the sierras. 6 days in kings canyon N.P. with only a couple of stings.... none through the clothes. stings r cuz I let the deet on hands expire before reapplying.

clothes treated in permithin
bug head net. long pants during sunrise/sunset. Fleece or rain jacket. pants tucked into socks. shirt tucked into pants.
30% deet on the hands during the magic light hours. (only exposed skin was the hands)
10% deet with sunscreen during the daylight hours. (shorts and short sleeved shirt...)

I never had to use my 100% deet.... i try to use as little deet as possible... that stuff has got to be harmful... I've seen it eat through pretty hard substances before....

That's what works for me....

Mosquitos can be a lot more than an annoyance. I got West Nile Virus from a mosquito bite last year and I was sick for a couple of weeks. Nothing beats full strength DEET, although I dissolved part of my camera once. The mosquitos around here laugh at Skin So Soft.