Over the past year or so I've been gradually taking more photos of details, textures and patterns, mostly at a macro level. In this blog I show some of the photos I have taken over this time, with a glimpse of what I might photograph in the future.
(I've decided not to caption the photos so you can have a guess at what some of them are, but feel free to ask me in the comments section at the end. I'm also giving away a print - details at the bottom of this blog.)
The shift towards photographing details started for me back in 2016 when I photographed a Death’s-head hawkmoth, and later on in the year some flowing particles in a cloud chamber at CERN in Geneva.
These photos sparked a curiosity which I began to explore further last year during a trip to Wales, where I took a few photos of plants in my Mum's shed and at the Slate Quarry in Dinorwig.
Then when my girlfriend bought a few succulent and cactus plants I started to get into macro more seriously...
I’ve been enjoying this type of photography for a few reasons. Firstly, I get to see and appreciate small details that you don’t see in the same way with the naked eye, like the arrangement of spikes on a cactus or the organic pattern of ice on the surface of a small lake...
Secondly, I have been learning from a technical point-of-view (with plenty still to learn!) some of the challenges of photographing on a small scale, like how minor adjustments to positioning and lighting can make a big difference - you certainly need patience...
...and thirdly, I enjoy the abstract result of some of these photos where the subject isn’t instantly recognisable and hopefully intrigues you so that you wonder what you’re looking at.
Thanks for taking a look at my blog. For the future I’ll be looking to work on smaller series of photos based off some of the photos in this blog. If you have any suggestions for other subjects for me to photograph then I'd love to hear them - please leave a comment below and don't forget to subscribe!
Also I'm giving away a print of a photo of your choice from this blog! To be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is let me know in the comments below which photo you would like as a print and why. Get your answer in by Sunday the 22nd to enter and I'll pick my favourite as the winner. Good luck!