A summer meadow can look like a sweep of color from a distance, but with a macro lens, it becomes an entirely different landscape.
On a recent walk, I spent some time photographing blooming wildflowers and grasses as well as a few insects and tree frogs found tucked away in the thick vegetation.
While I did take a few photos of the large flowers that were blooming, I decided to take time on this particular walk to also focus on a lesser appreciated form of flowering plant: the grasses. From a few steps away, grass florets can nearly disappear into the meadow. Through the lens, however, their intricate structures and dangling anthers became every bit as fascinating as the more conspicuous blooms nearby.
As I moved through the meadow, a cluster of milkweed plants became a small world of its own. Several Red Milkweed Beetles were gathered among the milkweed and surrounding grasses with their brilliant red-orange bodies standing out sharply against the verdant summer green. Nearby, a juvenile grasshopper ascended a towering grass, and a host of other flies, aphids, and other fascinating insects danced among an entanglement of greenery.
The milkweed was sheltering something else, too. Beneath its broad leaves, I found two treefrogs nestled almost completely out of sight. Their bright green coloration blended beautifully with the leaves they rested on. Had I not slowed down to take a closer look, I could easily have walked past without ever knowing they were there.
That may be what I enjoy most about macro photography. It encourages a different kind of attention. A familiar meadow stops being simply flowers, grasses, and insects and becomes a collection of small discoveries: the unexpected color of an anther, the fine architecture of a grass flower, a gathering of beetles, or a perfectly camouflaged frog resting beneath a leaf.
Sometimes the most remarkable parts of a summer landscape are the ones that ask us to come closer.
Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria):
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata):
Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium):
Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula):
Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardi):
Red Milkweed Beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus):
Citrus Flatid Planthopper (Metcalfa pruinosa):
Two-striped Grasshopper (Melanoplus bivittatus):
Margined Calligrapher (Toxomerus marginatus):
Genus Cedusa:
Flesh Flies and Satellite Flies (Family Sarcophagidae):
Gray Treefrog Species Complex (Complex Dryophytes versicolor):
