Category Archives: Alberta

Sorry I missed The Week on Sunday last week, I was holding a macro workshop that day. Here’s this week’s collection with some old links that are still well worth sharing.

♦ First, a free e-book: Dr Eleanor’s Book of Common Ants by Dr. Eleanor Spicer Rice and featuring images by none other than the Ansel Adam of Arthropods, Alex Wild!

Written by Dr. Eleanor, photographs by Alex Wild.

Available as an iBook or pdf., this is a simple but well written book with a great design that is well worth adding to you library. Check it out!

♦ What’s your macro success rate? Are you frustrated with your results when doing macro photography? Hang in there! Just take a look at Mike Moats , who has to be one of only a hand-full of photographers that makes his living as a macro specialist. A hobbyist in 2001, he quickly turned his macro work into a career, and has since been published in a variety of magazines, has won many local and international awards and has even published a book (see his About page for details). With that kind of experience you’d think that he can make ever macro shot count…check out his post Macro Success Rate to see how a pro defines success.

♦ I’ve featured Sean McCann before on this blog, he’s rising star in the bug photography and blogging world, and now he’s found a gravid cellar spider to play with.

♦ And a photographer that has drawn over 2 million visits at PBase is carlogallian. Exceptional bug photography - start at his insects in flight page and prepare to be dazzled.

♦ Dr. Prof. Chris Buddle is high-flying academic who spends most of his time in an ivory tower, secretly working on projects valueless to society while raking in millions of dollars of government grants…

WRONG!

Chris has made a point of sharing his science by blogging at Arthropod Ecology and by reaching out to youth.

Entomologists professional and amateur, and bug photographers: if you have ever considered sharing your fascination of the spineless, check out his  advice at:

• Kids Like Bugs: entomology outreach in elementary schools (Part 1)
• Kids Like Bugs: entomology outreach in elementary schools (Part 2)

♦ There’s a new Canadian bug blog! Shelley Barkley has begun blogging at Bugs and Quilts. Starting with a hike to monarchs and then a post on washing dirt (Honest!) Go have a visit with Shelley and show her the luv! (I can’t believe I said that..)

♦ What you don’t see often on this blog are fly pictures. I have a bad habit of discounting them when in the field, and have sometimes been known to grumble – “Nothing to photograph today, I saw nothing but flies and mosquitoes!” This makes no sense at a few levels, and I ought to know better. First, mosquitoes are flies, and second, and more importantly…flies are  amazing! They are highly variable, often fascinating and they really do deserve a second look! Few bloggers know this better than Dipterist (i.e. ‘fly guy’) Morgan Jackson. He has recently been posting on interesting new fly species in his series: To Know a Fly. First, a spider fly with bizarre little eye extensions, and then a flightless fly that has been apt-ly named…

♦ An interview with one of the most respected macro photographers on the web and one who also finds most of his buggy subjects in his garden: Photography Perspectives: Brian Valentine’s Beautiful and Savage Garden.

And speaking of gardens…

The ponds are flowing, clean-up is slow but progressing and the bugs are flying! I have Siberian squil, daffodils and pasque flower in bloom, with some marsh marigold buds ready to pop at any moment…Spring is here!

And the weather outlook is rosy!

from Environment Canada

Until next week!