fourpointedstar

You might think that after 10 years of photographing butterflies in the same exhibit that it would be easier or boring or predictable, but during each visit, I have to search for the butterflies in a good setting within the reach of my lens, adjust for the proper lighting, and then capture the image while the butterfly is stationary.

The sunlight filters in and out, the butterflies often land far away or in an “ugly” location, or they take off right when you press the shutter button; so each year there is a challenge and a smile when I’m editing and see that I’ve captured a good image. Really, each one of those challenges is present in most photographic creation…

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Each winter, I make a sacred trek to Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago. They have a wonderful year-round butterfly exhibit, and those colors are the perfect break from the dull nature colors. Even when the Illinois winter blesses us with snow instead of 43 shades of brown and grey, more of nature is still monochromatic.

Typically I focus on the butterflies; small pops of color whose unpredictable nature and flight paths make them a challenge to photograph, but this visit, I was inspired by a photo that Sarah took years ago – a simple image of the end of one of the vines. What images could I create in the butterfly house that weren’t of butterflies?

This grasshopper was so tiny that it was almost transparent, but it stood still for its portrait and even twitched its antenna when requested.  Maybe the freckles are from the sunny days before, and it didn’t tan, just got spots instead.

This insect would be terrifying if it were larger.  The ambush bugs can attack and eat insects that are up to 10x their weight, and those forearms are meant for holding onto the prey.  Every once in a great while, I’ll spot one of these monsters who has ventured out of their hiding spot, and their angular body makes for a fantastic photograph.

I find the tiny details fascinating; the bristling hairs, the delicate arms and toes, the color coordinating eyes, and even the mouth parts.  I suppose it will never stop amazing my that so many tiny things – insects & plants – have even tinier bristles, hairs, or peach fuzz.  Details so small that we could never see them, but so important to their existence, their safety, or even hunting.

One of my favorite things to do in the winter in Chicago is to visit one of the conservatories to see the plants and blossoms. The splash of color does wonders to invigorate my spirit.
But then I tend to create monochrome images out of my trips because I love the textures.

I walked right past this plant while complaining that I hadn’t taken enough photos of blossoms. Sarah kindly pointed out that the purple blossoms were almost radiant; I’d walked right past the plant because most of the blossoms were wilted and past their prime. The yellow stamen are almost creepy.

I love seeing other people’s photos, and recently I saw a photo of a single cactus blossom from a photographer that was perfect and beautiful. I don’t like my image quite as much as theirs, but this cute blossom was absolutely perfect for the photograph.

The tiny blossoms on this cactus were the perfect cluster of beauty for my macro lens. The sad thing about macro photos is that I have no clue what the remainder of the plant looks like now.

I don’t ever shy away from editing an image from cropping to color correction to contrast; I almost never show an image before editing.

But every once in a while a scene presents itself that needs no editing, like this one. I did crop this, my lens simply didn’t have the reach for the crop that I wanted; and of course, I changed it to black & white. Some won’t like this image, even more will find an aspect to critique; and that’s fine, after all art is subjective.

I love converting photos of ferns to monochrome images; they’re almost monochromatic already, simply shades of green. However, in their full color, you can enjoy the yellow and red shades within the greens, as well as the brown details in the fibers and stems. For this curly image, I really enjoyed the peach-fuzz underneath the plant that you wouldn’t normally see.

One of the beauties of nature is the joy of looking closer. Not only does this fern remind me of nature’s zipper, the closer that you look at the plant, the more you can see and learn; the strands on the branch, the spots and texture on the fronds as well as the serration on the edges of the branches.

I guess I’ve never really paid attention to the spines on various cactus plants, but I have definitely never noticed a cactus’s spines that are quite as curvy as this cactus’s are! I love the almost “barrier” like feel to the repeating leaves, if that’s what you would call them, and the repeating pattern makes me wonder if there’s a mathematical system behind their arrangement.

I felt very bad for this little spider; it was just blowing in the wind on this tiny flower and twitching its legs every time that another insect came by. There was just 1 problem, this little spider was about the size of a grain of rice, and the bugs that were coming by? They were several times its size.

When you’re growing up, you learn “facts” that stick with you and you later learn are more “general rules”. Two that come to mind are “humans have five senses” and “moths have antenna that are fuzzy or comb-like”. Well, this is a Ailanthus Webworm Moth, and not only does it not have fuzzy antenna, but Wikipedia says that until it’s in flight, it resembles a beetle. Second grade science class was just full of lies!
(The senses of motion and balance are great examples of “other” senses.)

Back in 2010, I photographed this type of insect with my iPhone. We were on a trip to see a friend on the south side of Chicago, and I remember the photograph because it was one of the first “good enough quality” photos with an iPhone that I’d taken.

Two weeks ago, when I took the above photograph of the same type of insect, I thought to myself “that’s odd that I haven’t see an insect like that in a very long time.” I photograph insects every year, and I wondered why I hadn’t seen such a unique insect in over ten years. According to Wikipedia, they only travel this far north some summers and are more of a southern insect.

Last year, we began completely recreating our south-facing yard as a prairie with native plants. I have always loved the look of these and their gorgeous stringy mop of a hairdo!

Watching the ants crawl across the peonies is a special kinda of therapy; my goal when attempting to capture this photo was to get an ant in the photo. The ants, however, we’re very cooperative, so instead I captured a bit more abstract of an image.

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When I purchased my Sony camera, I knew that I would want a macro lens (since my old one was for Nikon). I settled on the Laona 100mm f2.8 with manual focus – mostly because it was the least expensive 2x macro (by far). It can be exhausting to get the focus correct, but when it’s right, it’s absolutely lovely!

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There’s a certain delight in seeing the shag carpet look of this moth in the daylight. This beautiful insect just hung there for the entire hour that we were inside the butterfly house at Peggy Notebaert.

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For the past few years, Sarah and I have visited Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in downtown Chicago; they have a wonderful year-round butterfly sanctuary/exhibit. In the winter, it’s a wonderful break from the cold and grey.
This winter it was way too busy, but we finally made it down there for our anniversary last weekend.

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