To see the big picture…

sometimes you have to focus on the little bits.

Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever…it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.

Aaron Siskind

I remember the exact moment that I became fascinated with macro photography. I use my camera every day and on this particular day I was at a loss for inspiration. My solution to this dilemma was to walk outside and pick a spot, sit down and look carefully at everything around me. It wasn’t long before I noticed a whole tiny world going on around me. My gaze was drawn to a bright green grasshopper on a dandelion stalk that had gone to seed. He was bright green, with the longest of antennae swivelling in all directions. At this time my lens of choice for every day was a pretty basic 55-2oo Nikkor which when zoomed out would have a nice soft background. I laid down on the grass, eye level with this small creature, only to discover that there was more going on upon this small stalk. Just above the grasshopper was the tiniest of worms…the intended dinner for the grasshopper. I captured the photo and it later became the focal point of an encaustic painting. In addition to that it sparked an avid curiosity for the tiny things that one might just walk by and never notice at all.

As with most new ventures I didn’t want to run out and purchase a macro lens only to find it gathering dust somewhere down the road so I opted for a very inexpensive macro filter that could be screwed onto the end of a lens and enable you to get just a little bit closer in magnification. Naturally the glass was not extremely sharp and the edges were very soft but as an intro to macro it served me well.

Today I shoot macro with a beautiful 105mm Nikon lens that allows me to capture things that I can barely see with my own eye. Using that lens has led me into a whole tiny world of beauty created by nature.

Today I see the big picture but only because I’ve focused on the little bits.