The first quality lens I could afford was a 100mm F2.8 macro photography lens. A good (and somewhat affordable) choice if you are curious for the hidden world of insects and their interesting looks and behaviour. Which I had been for as long as I can remember. The way a pill-bug rolls up into a flawlessly round ball, really appealed to me as I child. And while other kids would panic at the sight of a hairy spider, I would put it on my hand, to investigate this interesting creature.
The First Cut is the Deepest
So, yeah, the interest for creepy crawlers was present from the very first beginning. But as soon as I set eyes on the insect world through a macro lens, a whole new, utterly fascinating world opened up for me. All these huge compound eyes, observing you just as curiously as you do them! The little miracles of creatures being reborn: caterpillars transforming right before your eyes into beautiful butterflies, while alien-like larvae pop out of their skin, to turn into the most wonderful elf like dragonflies… Dewy cobwebs decorate trees and plants with uncountable shining dew drops, transforming my oh-so-boring everyday environment into the most beautiful early Christmas Scene….
Squirting Spiders
I could go on and on about tasty dragonflies, squirting spiders,creepy caterpillars,pink grasshoppers,hovering flies,bees on a mission, very vain banded demoiselles, mean wasps and hungry hornets and to hiding damselflies… But as a photo says more than a thousand words, I invite you to take a look at my macro gallery and stare shamelessly at these wonderful models. I can guarantee you: once you looked through a macro lens, the world will never be the same again. Gotta love ’em little buggers!
Metamorphosis Rice Paper Butterfly (Idea leuconoe)
Frozen
Resistance is Futile Bumblebee (Bombus sp.)
Lady in Red II The four-spotted chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata) at sunset
United Colours of Autumn – Cob web in autumn colours
Mellow Yellow European Peacock (Inachis io) on Rapeseed (Brassica napus)
Narcissus Banded Demoiselle reflected in the water surface
Hybrid pink grasshopper – due to erythrism
Mammoth Wasp Mammoth Wasp (Megascolia maculata flavifrons)
Narcissus II Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) reflected in the water surface
Digger Wasp (Bembix rostrata)
It’s Not Easy Being Pink Rare Hybrid Pink Grasshopper
Natural Jewlery European garden spider, diadem spider, cross spider, or cross orbweaver (Araneus diadematus)
Hummingbird moth (Macroglossum stellatarum)
Eating or being eaten….that’s the question. Damselfly on the carnivorous sundew plant.
Poppy Love II Mating Variable Damselflies (Coenagrion pulchellum)
A Summer Romance
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Sawfly (Symphyta) larva
Purple Haze II Dewy cobweb in the heather
Wet Feet Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) laying eggs (oviposition) in the stream