Some of my best ideas come when I’m avoiding work. The lawn is a perfect example. Instead of mowing, I stuck my homemade macro lens on the camera and started stalking in the long grass.
My own interest in this tiny world happened accidentally. I found that a cheap viewer I had for looking at old 35mm slides would fit over my digital camera’s lens. With it I could get close, ridiculously close to things. Cool, I thought. I wonder what’s lurking in the hayfield that used to be my back yard?
As it turned out, there was a lot more going on down there than I thought! My first surprise wasn’t that there were bugs. Everybody expects to see bugs in their lawn, but the variety! And the most delicate little flowers, overshadowed by the petunias and peonies.
Even the dreaded dandelion, uncovered a world of delicate structure.
Some of my “discoveries” were comical. From ungainly looking critters stuck at the top of a blade of grass,to a colourful caterpillar, in his “happy place”.
It certainly made me look more closely at what was happening, literally at my own doorstep. For instance each of these little spiders was about the size of a rice grain. Getting in close, then only colouring one spider, produced one of my favourite shots, an individual among many.
The big guns of the garden usually draw all the admiration from neighbors, but the amazing little blossoms and creatures I found were what drew my interest. And they quickly disappear when you’re contemplating the lawn from the seat of the Yard Master.
To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.
-William Blake
Jul 28, 2006 @ 11:26:22
I’ve just had a horrible stressful 24 hours,yet when I read your post and saw your pictures I felt the tension slipping away from my shoulders. My favourite photos are the bug on the blade of grass – he looks jaunty! – and the colourful spider.
Jul 28, 2006 @ 11:31:22
Well thank you for the comment Helen. I’m very glad to hear the little folk of my hay field brought some stress relief! Jaunty is a great word for him, I must remember that one.
Doug
Jul 30, 2006 @ 02:02:33
Doug, I love these pictures. They’re beautiful and interesting and your explanations are wonderful. The bugs seem so individual, which makes me realize how we just don’t look at things sometimes. And all because you figured out how to hook your slide viewer up to your camera! I wonder what would happen if you hooked up other stuff? I think you’re on to something here.
Jul 30, 2006 @ 05:31:11
Enjoyed your photos and commentary… A whole world at our feet. Digital cameras can get so close anyway and then with your viewer… I’ll have to look around for one of those.
With reference to hooking up other stuff as noted by bloglily, have you read about using Pringle’s Chips tubes as a macro lens? http://www.photocritic.org/2005/macro-photography-on-a-budget/
He’s got some neat photos of the tip of a ball point pen…
Jul 31, 2006 @ 08:37:48
Thanks everyone for the great feedback. Fencer, what a great link! A Pringles can as an extension tube. Great ideas there I can use to get my SLR shooting tiny.
Doug
Aug 03, 2006 @ 16:29:36
These are lovely Doug. I agree with the comment about how relaxing it feels to look at these little beauties. The one with the spider and the web is so delicate. And I love the ‘dreaded’ dandelion. You have a great eye for capturing the things we usually ignore or don’t see.
Aug 28, 2006 @ 16:24:28
You will probably think twice before mowing the lawn again, knowing it will mercilessly throw your fantastic many-legged models out of their homes.
I was seriously thinking about leaving a whole section of my garden as a wild-flower prairie, to encourage diversity and thus protect my vegetable garden from pest invasions. Now that you show me what fine pictures can be made, I will hesitate no more.