INSECTS IN FLIGHT

Way back on one of my early '70s birthdays,  I was given a book called 'Borne on the Wind' by a photographer named Stephen Dalton. He was one of the pioneers in photographing insects in flight. But his images, while stunning, seldom looked natural, many being taken in a studio. 

I loved the book, and the way that the camera revealed views of insect behaviour that were impossible to see with the naked eye. 

This summer, I spent a lot of time photographing butterflies, and while the results were respectable, they didn't really excite me. There was nothing there that I hadn't seen a thousand times before. Which got me thinking about Dalton's images, and wondering whether todays digital cameras could capture something similarly unusual. 

On the plus side, technology was in a different league and using cards rather than film, I had a limitless number of frames with which to make an attempt. 

On the downside, I wanted to work fluidly under natural conditions, which meant no strobes, wind tunnels or controlling of natural behaviour. 

Oh, and to minimize the sitting around waiting and maximise the opportunities for shooting, I decided no tripod either. 

So I was going to be shooting macro, handheld images of movement too fast for the eye to see and too unpredictable to anticipate, using only natural light. 

I have to admit, I thought it was unlikely to work.

But the thought wouldn't go away, and eventually, I worked out a technique to do it. I call it the 'bloodyminded persistence and luck' method.

And these are some of the results to date. 

Brimstone butterfly

Spotted Longhorn beetle (Rutpela maculata) vs. Silver washed fritillary

Brimstone vs. Large skipper

MY ADOBE SHAME

Broadly speaking, I loath shots that are digitally altered. I like my natural history as nature intended, not with twee faux-atmospheric sepia tones, or bits cloned out and comp'd in. You can call it enhancement as much as you like but that don't make it so. It's kind of a moral guideline for me. Sad, but true.

In a cruel and ironic twist of fate, though, years spent working in advertising have had the unfortunate effect of making me go all gooey at the knees when I see a really striking graphic image. And sometimes, late on a Friday night when long suffering Dilly is out with the girls, I give in to my urges, open up photoshop and fiddle with my Jpegs. There. I've said it. I've outed myself.

Nothing heavy, you understand- I just like to experiment occasionally. And only when the image isn't degraded by it. A heavy vignette here, grayscale there. A tweak of the contrast slider. An irregular crop. It's still the exactly the same scene that I shot. It's just...well, enhanced, dammit.

But if I ever post a sepia shot, even late on a Friday night, you have my permission to shoot me. And not with a camera. 

It may be Art. But I'm not convinced it's Fine.

Marbled White butterfly

Beetle on Daisy

Tropical swallowtail (captive)

African Monarch against sand dune

Beautiful Demoiselle

Small Tortoiseshell