Good News From National Geographic
Crazy Man
I'm continuing to really enjoy my Nikkor 40mm micro lens, but it's having an impact on my behavior.
Sure, if you're trying to get an interesting shot of something, someone who is observing you can figure out what the deal is. You have a camera in hand and you may be climbing something, crouching down, etc. That's all fine and good. But what happens when the subject matter happens to be an inch long damselfly that only you can see? That was the position I found myself in the garage where I was going around in circles with my pointer finger in the air. I had to look like a complete mental patient who's miming "We're number one!" as I tried to get the guy to land on my finger.
I finally got him to land and got a pretty cute handheld shot, but even better is knowing that my family is now accustomed to this aberrant behavior and hardly blinks an eye.
Lesson Learned: Update
Almost fell off the chair yesterday when I checked my e-mail and saw my own picture sitting right there in the Popular Photography's message. Looks like my shot was selected for the "Best of July" readers submitted gallery. Looks like I'll have a 1 in 10 chance of making the print edition. Not so bad if I do say so myself.
http://www.popphoto.com/gallery/your-best-shot-gallery-july-2012?image=12
Lesson Learned
As a 42 year old man I've learned a very valuable lesson when it comes to macro photography of insects. If you're going to take photos of these guys and have to work 1 inch away from them (due to the short 40mm lens).... MAKE SURE THE DAMN THINGS ARE DEAD!
I could have sworn that this guy with the the killer spike for a mouth had passed on to the great bug beyond. If you had left me in the pool for hours, that would certainly do the trick. Not with this guy. After about 30 shots, I looked again through the lens to see his spike moving and his breathing kicking in. PHOTO SHOOT OVER!
Lesson-learned number two is that I can still scream like a little girl when necessary...
Look What The Pool Dragged In
One of the things I've come to love about photography is the huge range of topics that can be covered in an image. The possibilities are endless and at this point in time, I'm still keeping a very broad spectrum of subjects and styles in what I shoot. And while I love macro images, I'm not always seeking out the subject.... sometimes they land in your lap. Or pool.
With these warm summer temperatures, it seems a gazillion insects have spawned and in the morning I've found a few creatures in the pool that were both big enough and interesting enough to want to see how they would look up close. Bugs generally skeeve me out a bit, but the the design of the shells and chitinous parts of some of them are amazing. I picked up a Nikkor 40mm 2.8 Micro lens not that long ago and put it to work on a few finds. It's a short working distance, but since the bugs were dead, it made things much easier. There was no beetle rangling involved.
