Nature Blog Network

Perspective is a difficult thing for human beings to get out heads around.  As far as life on earth goes, we’re big; huge even, so right from the start we have an extremely skewed view of a world that exists on a much much smaller scale that we can readily perceive.  In the small world, violent interspecies events occur on a regular basis, life and death itself hangs in the balance.  The wonders of the plant world; growth, pollination, dispersal of seeds, exist in ways that would baffle many, on a scale that we tend to ignore.

Not macro photographers though, they have a penchant for the puny, an near itch for the nearly invisible, a declination for miniaturization.  And because of them, we in the big world are able to see, in scales that we can readily comprehend in a format that we certainly enjoy, the wonders that we too often miss.  And the NBN is a fantastic place to enjoy those with an eye towards the small, and the means to show them to us that doesn’t require an elaborate and hilarious Rick Moranis created contraption.

Common Yellow Dung Fly, photo from wikipedia

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- Voyages Around My Camera takes us on some pretty spectacular voyages into the smaller realm.  Bugs are pretty amazing at high magnification and Adrian Thyse doesn’t appear to miss often when an opportunity presents itself.

- There are some pretty wonderful action sequences at MicroMacroscopy.   You could put them all together and have a pretty rad flipbook, especially of the ladybug and aphid (spoiler alert: it doesn’t end well for the aphid).

- If the thought of a framed photo of an ant on your wall seems weird, do yourself a favor and check out Myrmecos Blog.  His macro shots are nothing short of beautiful, in that way that a horrific hairy legs and head crushing jaws can be beautiful, which…. obviously, ya know?

- Bugs are popular macro subjects, but plants are too, and the simple beauty of a flower becomes a highly complex natural reproduction machine when you’re all up in it, like Heather at Heather of the Hills.

- I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned him around these parts before, but it’s worth repeating that Tom Arbour of the the Ohio Nature Blog has an eye for macro subjects, both plant and buggy, and you should swing by.

- Macro Art in Nature is as good a theme for this subject as any, because it’s important to note that the art of macro photography is as crucial to the medium as the nature.  Fellow Carolinian Michael Brown does a fantastic job finding both in nearly every shot.

- The text may be in Spanish, but as I’ve said before, good photography transcends language barriers, and Macroinstantes is no exception.  The only problem is that I hae trouble figuring where it’s based.  My best guess is Spain, but perhaps someone more versed in the language can help?

- Another international submission, this time from South Africa, is the appropriately named South African Photographs.  We’re all aware of the phemonenal opportunities for traditional nature photography that can be found in South Africa, you’ll no doubt he shocked to learn the macro stuff is pretty special too.

- Professional Photog Clay Bolt’s great blog Natural Imagery is a great introduction to the whol of his work.  It’s not all macro, but there’s enough there that you’ll get your fill.  The rest of his body of work is pretty spectacular too, by the way.

- Finally we head out west, and this time to California to the cleverly named Bug Shutterbug.  You can probably guess what you’d find here, and you’d be right.  There are undoubtedly many fantastically cool looking beetles in California.

And that’s where we touch off for next week.  Bug Shutterbug is a lot of fun, and not only because of the great photos, but because there’s so much to photograph in California.  And that’s what I’m looking for.  The blog community of the Bear Flag Republic should get ready for next week in…

California Nature

I did a Networking post some time ago on California bird blogs, but now I’m looking for everyone else (as well as bird blogs I may have missed), so let me have it at naswick (at) gmail (dot) com.

I’ll see you next week!