Aperiology (MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY) Encore with Joseph Saunders

The macro photography of Joseph Saunders, via @reelsonwheels on Instagram. Pictured, clockwise from top left are a mottled brown spiny mantis on wood, a brown cricket cleaning its dusty face, a black and yellow striped salamander on a bed of fallen leaves and a jumping spider with big shiny eyes.

Lights! Cameras! Arachnids! And lizards and bees and beetles. Macro photography is like magic: curved glass gives an entirely new take on the world, from dust on a cricket’s brow to a curious mantid stare to the elegant symmetry of spider whiskers. Joseph Saunders is an Oklahoma-based wildlife photographer whose larger-than-life photos of bugs and reptiles will make you realize just how little we appreciate the creatures on our window sills and skittering up our porches. We talk shop about cameras, bug hunts, lenses, patience, Moth Week, BlackAFinSTEM, and also getting into nature with different mobility concerns. Alie is a shameless, rabid fan of Joseph and asked Patrons to help concoct an -ology to describe the art + science of his macro photography. Aperiology now exists to describe the tiny aperture used to keep these creatures in focus, and the huge world it opens up to us.

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Alie Ward