My specialist practice, the thing I want to focus on macro photography. I’ve always had a soft spot for photography to do with nature, the ability to capture the world around us how we may see it and share that with others. Macro photography in my mind takes that idea further, being able to capture those small details that only a few may notice and share that with the world, showing beauties and details only few get to see.
Macro photographers are typically freelance workers, being picked up by Scientific journals and magazines or advertising agencies. With this you just have to try your best to make a name for yourself, making yourself stand apart from everyone else and cater towards what your audience will want.
Another freelance career option I’ve seen a lot is having online accounts like flikr or Imager to sell their photos independently however that seems less effective given the fact people can just save your pictures from the very websites you’re selling on.
One photographer I’ve found is called Alexy Kljatov a photographer well known for his macro photography of snow flakes. getting up close to something so small and seeing all the small details that makes every tiny thing unique is to me the essence of what makes macro photography so special.
https://alexey-kljatov.pixels.com/art
For me the best way to replicate the look and more importantly the feel of the snowflake pictures, the ones I feel are the most unique of Alexys photos, was to photo eyes. Eyes I feel are good equivalent to snowflakes since they both have unique details and patterns that can only be revealed up close.
There’s also another photographer that captures what I feel makes macro photography so special and beautiful and that is Jamie Price. Jamie Price focuses on insects and plants, showing the things we find small and insignificant and showing their full potential as how they actually look, showing the patterns and hidden beauty we can’t see. That to me is a major part of why I love macro photography, the chance to give a new found life and appreciation for things that are often over looked.
https://www.jamiepricephotography.com/macro-art
With being inspired by Jamies work I was called to the nature photography, the flowers and plants specifically, seen as how that’s an area I’m familiar with and what gave me a love for macro photography and photography in general. I wanted to capture the feeling of those macro shots without the exact equipment.
The third photographer I’ve found is called Adam Gor, a biologist who became interested in photography at the age of six. Adam takes a wide range of different kinds of photos, from landscapes but also macro. focusing on either insects or different items with examples of different coins but also different crystals and rocks, and the crystals really appeal to me. Crystals are fascinating as they can have unique colours and reflections and shapes so they’re perfect for macro photography.
These photos of an amethyst ring are inspired by his work with geodes and other minerals. I find the small intricate spikes and shards so interesting and the way it catches the light is very interesting. I would very much like to look into doing more work with crystals in the future.
I went to the art exhibition in Manchester and was able to find two pieces relevant to my specialist interest.
The lobster piece I think can relate to macro in an abstract sort of way, it takes the smaller details and enlarges it to human details. While it’s a mixture of a person and a lobster and not exactly a statue macro of a lobster it still has a similar effect.
I also went to the art gallery in Leeds which is filled with incredible pieces of work but the thing that caught my eye the most wasn’t actually inside the building
It was the giant chess set outside. Now to me this large game of chess represents what macro is to me, taking things that are usually so small and possibly inconsequential and very easy to overlook and making them bigger than they actually are, showing people all the small intricate details that maybe only the creator of said piece can see.
To me photography is less about just capturing what’s in front of you but what you see in front of you, being able to show other people the way you see our world, the colours others may not see. The shapes others may not see and the beauty that people can overlook or not notice. Taking those small yet incredible things we see every day and sharing them with everyone and to me macro photography does just that.