Tag Archives: macro photography

Blown away

How long has it been since you were blown away by something: a view, a picture, an act of cheer genius by somebody, … It doesn’t happen too often, does it? When thinking of photography, these days everybody is a photographer with a platform to show his or her work. This means you come across a lot of shots, yet only every so often do you come across some work that literally blows you away, because it’s different, because somebody clearly had a vision and has put a lot of work into shaping that vision. In the recent past, to me that has been the work of Mate Bence, check it out here and decide for yourself.

More often than not, you have to prepare and do some effort in looking for things that can blow you away, such as the volcano which Sietske and myself climbed and which has gotten some air in the press last week (Burning love, man proposes to his girlfriend 11000 ft up an active volcano). Very often though you don’t have to go far to be blown away, yet you have to create the opportunity to make it happen, something that is highly unlikely to happen by getting stuck behind your computer. You have to go out there and be ready when the moment presents itself, either because you created it or out of simple luck (every so often it happens you are in the right place at the right time without having planned for it, yet even then, you went out, so you definitely had your part in allowing luck to get to you)! To bring this point home, please find this shot by my mother in law, she went out, always has her eyes open and always carries a camera and this shot is a result of that, I love the color and the pose.

Canon Powershot G7, 1/800, f/4
To end with, I also want to share these two shots, a sky that blew me away during a work visit, and boy, was I happy I carried my camera.
Canon 7D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM
Canon 7D, Canon EF 24-105mm L IS USM @ 24 mm, 1/80, f/11, ISO 200
All this being said, I guess the point I wanted to make is the following: be ready to blown away, create the opportunity and when it presents itself, let it happen. By doing so, chances become much higher that you’ll move from a happy snap shooter who gets the occasional shot towards somebody who creates work that blows people of their feet.
All the best,
Guy

A dangerous beauty

Dear all,

During the week, while talking on the phone, I tend to wander through the garden surrounding the office. Last week, I went through the parking lot, when some kind of irregularity in a flower caught my eye. Some closer inspection revealed this beauty, shot with my iPhone 3Gs, since I don’t carry my camera to work. I even disconnected the call not to miss out on a shot of this beautiful creature.

iPhone 3Gs, f/2.8, 1/390, ISO 64

Since that day, I pass by the area regularly and to my surprise the spider seems to be quite loyal to the flower she is on. Clearly a hunting spider, I thought she would feed on small ants and the like, yet yesterday, I saw to my surprise she was holding on to a bee allmost her own size.

iPhone 3Gs, f/2.8, 1/2400, ISO 64

Thinking this would keep her going for some time, I wondered where and how she would store her food. Yet next time around, there was no sign of the bee. Then again, this afternoon, she actually captured her next victim. Being a bee, you definitely don’t want to come close to this one. To my regret, I still didn’t carry my camera, so I used my phone again, not perfect, yet better than no picture at all. Considering the fact that these pictures are quite tight crops, I actually have to admit that I find the quality surprisingly good.

iPhone 3Gs, f/2.8, 1/1150, ISO 64

Quite an impressive little animal, as far as I’m concerned, and one that also shouldn’t get his teeth into you, since their bite seems to be quite painful. This being said, an idea has added to my photographic bucket list: capturing this one with a macro lens while it actually strikes, … guess I’ll have to spend a few Saturdays in the office parking lot ;-). Hoping she’ll stick around, I’ll try to start off with a decent macro shot next week. A nice urban wildlife photographic opportunity, showing you don’t always have to go far to find opportunities.

To end with, some internet research revealed this to be a flower crab spider (those who want more info regarding these creatures can check out this link).

All the best,

Guy

PS: next week, the first guest blog will be up and I will start a facebook page for picsfromthewild (Mark, a friend of mine who is a great photographer in his own right is working on the logo as we speak).