In this very dark hour, I have chosen not to dwell on the difficulty of the moment - because in the end I am still the luckiest guy on Earth - but rather to concentrate on things that inspire me. Well, I just found one.
I have never been too impressed by macro photography and usually find bugs creepy. I know a cat who eats them. But there are people who photograph them, with various degrees of success. The following has made me rethink everything I thought I knew about macro photography and reevaluate the definition of « impossible ». In order not to steal the guy’s images, I’m linking below to 4 pages of his gallery with frantic enthusiasm and I hope you will take the time to browse, either through my selections or his.
If I ever caught a glimpse of photographic genius, this is one. I can only dream of some day managing to get results that would be a tenth as amazing as these. From what I gather, he shoots at dawn in the fall and uses bellows and either an enlarger lens or a standard 50mm lens that he doesn’t even reverse. I hear that people also get good results with the Canon MP-E 65mm Macro lens, but that’s out of my league. And then, where does one buy a few ounces of genius?
Here’s the work of Martin Amm from Germany. Kudos.
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« Frantic enthusiasm? Goodness!
Date of comment: 2008-08-27 04:54 •Yes, some of the nicest bugs shots I’ve seen. Great colors! Just one question: does he freeze his bugs and photographs them as they thaw? I’m suspicious of all those water droplets. Perhaps I’m just cynical. »
« T’es marrante, tiens! And how exactly would you freeze a bug on a plant and then thaw it? He says he goes out to a field before dawn and looks for a dragongfly that is still numbed by the cold and covered in dew. It’s hard to believe, though, isn’t it? And the level of detail is mesmerizing. No flash, natural lighting. »
Date of comment: 2008-08-27 15:49 •« Well, I was thinking in a freezer of course. You don’t see the background. Could be a lab. Ok OK
Date of comment: 2008-08-27 18:25 •I want to believe (héhé) »
« They are amazing and it is easy to be sceptical of, and because of, their inherent perfection. »
Date of comment: 2008-08-28 13:34 •