Seasons come, seasons go

"Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, it is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy that we can scarcely mark their progress.”
~Charles Dickens

Camera: Canon PowerShot A710 IS Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400) Aperture: f/4.0 Focal Length: 5.8 mm Date & time: March 8, 2009 at 3.30pm EET Location: Kerimäki, Finland Well, what do you know? It seems only yesterday when the sight of the the first spring flowers delighted my senses and now it's already June. Hellooo summer! I don't have nice & bright summer pics yet because it actually feels like mid-autumn here. It's been raining for days and it's quite cold to do anything outdoors. So for now, join me as I reminisce about the sweetness of spring.. I think the cutest spring insect is the scarlet lily beetle. These critters munch on lilies like crazy, but I can't get rid of them because they are quite photogenic. Their color stands out from the sea of leaves, so spotting these insects should be a piece of cake. Moreover, they don't move much which makes them brilliant subjects. 1. A Beautiful Pest, 2. I'm back! From calm beetles let's move on to some action shots.. Experts always recommend taking photos of bugs either early in the morning or late afternoon because they are not hyperactive during those times. Since I am not a morning person, I've got to choice but to chase insects at mid-day. It's not a wise idea because the shots may be at risk for overexposure. Of course one can always adjust the exposure settings but I do have a tendency to forget that- dementia is catching, you know... A few days before spring bid farewell, I saw hoverflies fluttering over yellow daisies. But then I've got so many photos of insects on yellow flowers and I'm quite bored with them already. For that reason, I concentrated on capturing the hoverflies while in mid-air, luckily most of the shots turned out well. Picking which ones to upload, was as usual, a bit of an agony. Here are 2 of the successful captures: 1. Soaring over fields of gold, 2. They come in threes.. Blooming beauties It's a crime not to take photos of flowers on spring time. I experimented more on control of depth of field, the results were quite good. I tried to make the photos more dramatic by keeping them as simple as possible, it worked fine. At least they don't look too mediocre. 1. Thankful 2. Sunlight Beginners tend to include some not-so-important elements in their photos. As a result, the composition is all over the place, meaning that the photo fails to tell its 'story'. I was like that too, back when I thought that photography merely involves pressing the shutter. There are pieces of evidence like this pointless shot from years ago that one spring in my life, my photos sucked to the highest degree. I often here nice words from some people who are interested in photography, bless their hearts. They say that my work somehow inspires them, wow I am ever so flattered. If they would see my old shots, I bet they would come to their senses, haha!! The truth is, I am just someone who enjoys taking photos. I try to improve my skills through my own simple ways, hoping that I would always nicely capture the beauty that nature brings, season after season..

Insect Porn

“All nature's creatures join to express nature's purpose. Somewhere in their mounting and mating, rutting and butting is the very secret of nature itself.”
~ Graham Swift


Make love, not war
Location: Pähkinärinne, Vantaa. Southern Finland
Date & Time: June 28, 2008 4.09PM EET
Camera: Canon PowerShot A710IS
Exposure: 0.008 sec
Aperture: f/4
Focal length: 5.8mm

Among the advantages of a compact camera is that its size and weight won't interfere that much with your daily routine. Take the photo above as an example. I took that on the way home from the grocery and I had two shopping bags at the time. I can't imagine taking photos of bugs by the road side with a heavy DSLR while carrying bags of groceries I am not strong enough to do that.

It's so easy to take photos of insects while they are mating. You can take 100 photos of them is you are quick enough. But that will leave you with so much work afterwards. If you want to upload the photos later to your online gallery, it's a must to pick the best ones, otherwise the photo viewers may get bored to death except of course if they are entomologists who would like to carefully document the bugs' mating process. Once you see a mating pair, don't be afraid to get very close to them. Trust me, they would rarely mind your presence unless startle them by moving the leaves or petals where they are. But when do they mate? The earliest time of the day when I saw mating butterflies was at 11 AM. I once took photos of beetles mating at 7 PM, the evening light was nice then. Of course if there is a butterfly park near you, there would always be mating couples there. But if you are like me who don't have much choice but to look for them in the wild, you have to be alert. Once you see two of the same kind of butterfly, there's a big chance that they are in the middle of a courting ritual. Try not to disturb them and just walk closer to their direction when they get down to the actual business. Beetles are easier to capture because they don't move much. In addition to that, they mate for hours. You will have a lot of time to take photos them. When I was on vacation in the Philippines, I saw mating tortoise beetles while I was on my way to a nearby mall. I took photos of that couple and then after my 2-hour mall trip, they were still at it. Get the picture?


Presenting.. my porn collection:

1. Caught in the act, 2. Size doesn't matter?, 3. Afternoon delight, 4. bugs in love, 5. mating beetles, 6. mating butterflies

If you find those photos funny & interesting, why not give insect porn a try? Forget about giving those bugs some privacy, they do it by the road side for crying out loud. Just look for them and keep in mind that sex sells.