SMALL WANDERER WITH A BIG SHELL

Kopia – Observed lives.jpg

Checking in from Austria!

Macro photography of insects and other small creatures is far from being one of the easiest branches of photography. However, I find this tiny world incredibly fascinating—a miniature universe that often goes unnoticed in our everyday lives. That is why I set myself a goal this year to learn this type of photography.

I have already made countless attempts to photograph insects pollinating flowers. Unfortunately, the results were almost always blurry, even though I experimented with many different camera settings. Two weeks ago I spent the weekend in Torgau, Germany. During one of my walks, I came across this snail calmly enjoying a fallen fruit. I immediately thought it would be the perfect model for practicing my macro photography skills.

I have to admit that, at times, even this snail seemed too fast for me. 😂 The photos are still not exactly what I dream of, but as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Slowly but surely, I'll get there. I hope that with every new session my photographs will improve until I finally achieve the results I'm aiming for.

For many of us snails are mainly associated with eating lettuce in the garden. In reality, however, many species play an important role in the ecosystem. They feed on decaying plant material, fallen fruit and fungi, helping to recycle organic matter and return valuable nutrients to the soil.

But did you know that snails don't actually have teeth and don't chew their food the way we do? Instead, they have a specialized feeding organ called a radula—a tongue-like structure covered with thousands of microscopic tooth-like projections. They use it to scrape food from various surfaces.

And although snails are famous for moving at a very slow pace, their method of locomotion is remarkably sophisticated. Thanks to the mucus they produce, they can safely travel across sharp stones, branches and even vertical surfaces. This mucus also protects their delicate bodies from drying out and injury, reduces friction while moving and in some species even helps deter predators.