Macro photography and the study of insects are two of the great passions in my life so it made sense to me to try to incorporate these into the idea for my Negotiated Major Photographic Project.
When we undertook our advanced research strategies module in semester 1,
I was absolutely certain about my initially proposed idea which was to try to document the four stages of the life-cycle of a butterfly which would culminate in me attempting to try to take a series of portrait style photographs of the adults butterflies.
When we started back in Uni at New Year in semester 2, it all too rapidly became obvious that this project was not going to work. The weather had been and still is particularly unseasonal and this has had a noticeable effect throughout the country, the bad weather and heavy snow have caused chaos around the country and the prolonged winter and incredibly cold conditions have delayed the onset of spring quite considerably.
After seeking the advice of a professional Lepidopterist who manages the Butterfly House in Sheffield, he advised me that as a professional he had really struggled to manage his collection under ideal circumstances. He also advised me that to attempt to rear my own butterflies with no prior experience would be a very difficult task to achieve and may not be possible at all. He was also concerned that my idea of trying to document in the butterflies would also fall into great difficulty because of the same difficulties with the weather.
This was a truly terrifying prospect for me ! Basically,I was looking at now completely re-writing the idea and concept of my NFMP almost half way through the allotted time period for the NFMP module.
This was a really worrying time for me, I have worked so incredibly hard over the last two and a half years of my degree and now, half way through my final major project, I am absolutely nowhere and with nothing at all to show!!
I was going to have to come up with a new idea that is worthy of my NFMP and I would effectively have to start again.
The starting point for my revised project idea came from my visit to The Butterfly House in Sheffield. After speaking to the Manager of the Tropical House and explaining my project to her, she informed me that they had some recently deceased butterfly specimens that I would be able to take away with me to practice my photographic technique on.
This was very kind of her and I duly obliged. I waited for a few moments expecting her to bring me a single butterfly when in actual fact, she brought me 6 incredibly coloured butterflies, 2 of which were huge. She also gave me a few empty butterfly and moth cocoons.
I took these home and set up a mini-studio on my desk and tried to photograph them, I got some fairly good results but I wanted more.
Since I completed my first book-project on insect photography which I undertook in the first year, I have constantly continued to develop my macro-technique when and wherever possible.
At New Year, I had a very interesting discussion with our Technical Demonstrator, John. We were talking about macro-photography and developing my technique and he mentioned photo-stacking.
I remembered this conversation and managed to find the details of the website that he had told me about.
It is for a company called Helicon who make professional focus-stacking and rendering software.
I had a very good look through their website and this made me think.
Due to the very nature of close-up macro-photography. Shallow depth-of-field is very common and can easily result in badly focussed or un-subjective images.
I have always wanted to be able to take a macro shot that is ''perfect''.
Perfectly focussed from front to back with exceptional levels of detail that do not pixellate under magnifaction by cropping.
From looking at the website, focus-stacking appeared to be the answer.
Rather conveniently, the website offers a free months trial of the 2 pieces of software required to undertake focus stacking.
I promptly downloaded them and got to work.
I was instantly amazed !
Although there were a few minor issues with my initial shots, I could definitely see straight away that this had absolutely massive potential and was the perfect direction to develop my NFMP.
I see it as a way of developing myself as a photographic practitioner and also in the technical knowledge that I have.
Over the next few days, I was hooked and was focus stacking everything that I could get my hands on !!
Coins, screws, Lego Men, anything that I could get my hands on and I was now certain that this was utterly relevant to my NFMP.
The next difficulty that I had to overcome was my subject matter. I have a very small collection of tiny deceased insects that I have collected on my allotment but these were not of sufficient interest or quality for my NFMP.
I undertook some online research to see if it is possible to purchase preserved specimens of deceased insects online and it most certainly was, there was an amazing array from all around the world.
This still not give my work any sort of definitive context though and I really felt like this needed to be developed.
As I continued my research, I found an article online about a large insect collection at an American University.
This made me remember a visit to the Manchester Museum to see the dinosaurs with my Mum when I was a kid. I remembered that they had insects and bugs on display and wondered if this could be an option?
As soon as I went on the Manchester Museum, I found out that they did indeed have an enormous Entomology collection and not only did they just have it, but it was actually possible to gain access to it as a scientist, artist or a student for research purposes.
This sounded absolutely perfect !
To be honest, I honestly thought that it was actually too good to be true as things like this usually are.
I found the contact details of a lady called Sally who worked in the collections study centre.
I went to the Museum to meet her and discuss my idea. Whilst waiting to meet her, i had a look at one of their exhibitions and some of the insects on display were simply mind-blowing ! Was I really about to gain access to this spectacular collection?
I met with Sally and she was really helpful. She thought that my idea was great. She said that the next course of action would be for her to contact the Curator of the Entomology Department and pass my details on to him.
She took my email address and I left to get the train home.
I didn't expect to hear anything for a few days.
I checked my email when I got home to find out that she had already forwarded my details onto the Curator and he had already emailed me asking me for more information about my project. This was great news.
I duly replied and after a brief email conversation, we arranged to meet the next week at the Entomology Collections Store.
I thought ahead and packed all of my photographic equipment with just in case I would be able to take a few test shots when I got there.
Not at all sure what to expect, I made my way to the Museum by car with the intention of meeting the Curator at 11am and got lost on the way to the car park.
20 Minutes late, I arrived at the correct part of the museum and I met the Curator who was called Dmitri.
As soon as I met Dmitri for the first time, I knew that this project was going to work . He is a really great guy and has helped me so much to develop my idea.
After a brief discussion and a tour of the store, I explained my idea of photographing the facial details of insects in a portrait-like fashion.
I wasn't sure what subject to study first and Dmitri suggested Cockroaches !
Initially, I was rather sceptical but after seeing this amazing collection. I set to work photographing them.
The next month would see me visit the Entomology Department 8 separate times, clocking up just over 60 hours of photography and many thousands of images during the process.
The development of my project during this month is something that I am really rather proud of, I have continually tried to develop and evolve every area of my technique and practice as much as i possibly could during the time-frame that I had.
This is something that was instilled in me by my College lecturer Kevin who taught me on my HNc before I came to University.
He taught me that it is really important to look at what you have done, to understand what has and hasn't worked and if the situation allows, to look at revisiting your project and re-shooting it with the intention of honing and refining what you have done. To continue this process as much as possible, where possible until your work is as good as it can possibly be or your time has run out.
I employed his philosophy to the full extent and my last shoot was only 7 days before my final hand-in.
The final edit of my images has been a really interesting journey which has basically taken me round in a circle and the answer has been right in front of me the whole time.
With my final edit, I have tried to show the width, variation and diversity of the interesting subject matter that I have photographed during this project. Some of my final images are of, Wasps, Hornets, Dragonflies, Cicadas, Beetles, Flies, and all sorts of other creepy crawlies.
This is however where my project has almost come entirely undone !
The whole ethos of my project even at the very beginning with the butterfly idea was concerned with portraiture, particularly so with all of my work at the museum.
By trying to show such a wide variation of insects, I have realised that I am completely missing the point of portraiture!!
As I stated in an earlier post where I undertook a lot of research into the definition of portraiture.....
The very nature of portraiture itself is to look at the subtle differences between similar subjects.
By showing too diverse a selection of insects, I was about to do the exact opposite.
This was not what I have come to understand through my research as portraiture. This would merely be a gallery of completely different insects.
Although insects are in a way similar due to their size and scale, they really aren't at all. They are completely different entities.
A bee and a beetle are about as similar as a human-being and a giraffe !
With this in mind, I referred back to the design layout of my book.
Whilst designing the layout of my book, I grouped the 4 shots of the Cockroaches and as I was finalising the design of my book, this is when I realised that the answer has been right in front of me all the time!!
I mocked these two pages up very early on in the design of my book and this is the answer that I have been looking for.
I have four images of the same species of insect (cockroaches) they are slightly different variations of what is ultimately, the same species of insect and the subtle differences between these four Cockroaches sums up exactly what I have been trying to demonstrate through the use of portraiture the whole time !
This was now going to be my final image selection.
Just four images of the same species of insect. This makes complete sense.
It is ironic in a way that the very first insects that I photographed on my first visit to the Museum have ended up becoming my final image selection.
I haven't used the initial images that I took of the cockroaches.
Instead, I have evolved and developed my photographic technique continually throughout the journey of this module to be able to capture the exact same specimens but in the style of a professional studio portrait.
Working With Dmitri and Phil at the Entomology Department has been one of the true highlights of my entire degree !
To be able to have the degree of access that I have been given has been an absolute privilege.
I have been fascinated with the study of insects ever since I was a little kid on my Grandfather's allotment.
The Entomology collection is absolutely priceless and could never be replaced !!
I believe that I am one of only very few people that have been allowed to have such access.
Studying at the Entomology Department has also opened up a very exciting prospect for the future.
Dmitiri has proposed that we collaborate on a similar project in the future with the intention of the outcome being a large exhibition of my work at the Museum.
This is an amazing opportunity which I would have never been offered had my project taken its original course.
I probably would not have undertaken to learn the technique of focus-stacking which I am now very comfortable with the use of. This is something that I see as a valuable addition to my general photographic practice.
I can see so many other commercial applications for the use of focus-stacking outside of the photography of insects. Particularly in the areas of product photography and engineering, both of which I have worked in before.
I am definitely going to explore other applications of focus-stacking after I finish University and begin my own freelance photographic practice.
To sum up.
I am incredibly proud of what I have achieved on this module. Not just in terms of the quality of the images and the book that I have produced as my final outcomes but in the way that I have got to this successful conclusion.
From having absolutely nothing to show half way through my project,
I feel that I have successfully turned it around into a very successful project that has had such a strong context behind it and has already brokered future opportunities. This is something that I will alway be exceptionally proud of !
