Photography Catalogue

Welcome to my photography catalogue, where I record encounters with many of my favorite creatures. Typically, these are invertebrate animals such as insects and spiders.

On this page:

Subjects

Class Arachnida (arachnids)

Arachnids are small creatures (from microscopic to hand-sized) with eight legs, usually six or eight eyes, no wings, and an exoskeleton rather than internal bones.

Arachnids are my most common subject, although they are almost completely dominated by order Araneae: spiders. There are five other orders of arachnids, but these are largely less diverse, less prolific, and more dangerous to humans than spiders. Scorpions and even ticks are among these.

My motivation for photographing arachnids is quite personal, and the arachnid catalogue is the primary function of this web site. I was terribly arachnophobic when I was younger, and I couldn't bear to look at photographs of spiders. After college I determined to reduce my anxiety by exposing myself to images of spiders because I badly wanted to spend more time in natural places, which are ususally great spider habitats. This worked well enough that I could sleep with an orb weaver in the corner of the room near my head, understanding that the spider wanted absolutely nothing from me and didn't even want to move. Over time my understanding has turned into respect, fascination, and adoration of spiders and other arachnids except ticks. When I began photographing them as a record of my encounters (without knowing how to identify them), I began to really enjoy seeing the amazing adaptive features of these animals and wanted to know them better.

Class Insecta (insects)

Insects are small creatures (from microscopic to hand-sized) with six legs, ususally two or four wings, and an exoskeleton rather than internal bones.

Although I photograph many insects, they can be very difficult to identify. Because of that, this section is updated far less than arachnida.

Currently there are 4 entries, each in a different family. Insect families are extraordinarily diverse; each has numerous unique traits and behaviors.

Before I developed such a deep interest in spiders, I was photographing insects. The incredible diversity among insects means it is easy to come across one or another type to fall in love with. Some of my favorite animals are hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps), in particular the complex structures of eusocial species. However in my photo catalogue I focus on more unusual and visually compelling insects.

misc. microbes

"Microbe" is a general terms for any living being too small to see without a microscope. This includes members of all kingdoms and domains of life, such as algae, animals, plants, fungus, and more.

Resources for microbe identification are not very easy for laypersons to access, and identification is especially difficult without more specialized equipment. For this and other technical reasons, this section receives the fewest updates.

Currently two phyla of animals are represented: Nematodes and Rotifers.

Update History

Equipment

Most of my photos were taken on a Pixel 3 or Pixel 5. Some of those were additionally taken through a 40x hand lens - these are typically distinguishable by a very shallow focus (where most of the subject will be out of focus and the background will have pronounced bokeh).

I recently upgraded with a Sony a7 II digital camera & FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS lens. These have allowed me to capture detail and shots impossible for a smartphone, but the learning curve is significant.

My microscope has a 10x eyepiece lens and four objective lenses at 4x, 10x, 40x, and 100x. The total magnification of the subject is thus from 40x to 1000x. However, all photos taken through my microscope are taken with my Pixel 5 and further magnified by its lens.

Terminology

Macro photography is the practice of photographing very small organisms or objects with very high magnification so the subject appears greater than life size. Other terms for this include microphotography (but this can also mean the practice of shrinking physical photographs to tiny sizes), photomacrography, or macrography.

Microscopy is the practice of using a microscope. Although taking photos through a microscope is a form of macro photography, it also has a specific name: photomicrography.