The Portraits of Arthropod

The ‘Portraits of Arthropod’ is a life long project that I had set up to pursue after I was awed by their myriad unseen world. They are mesmerizing and beyond what I had seen for 44 years. They were the least explored when compared to the world of the four-legged animals and the aquatic animals, primarily because they are tiny and we are not able to see them in detail unless we magnified them. Blow them up many times their sizes and we will realize they are as intriguing as the Dinosaur and as mystical as the phoenix we had never seen.


The project intends to observe and present their natural world, and with the belief that all living things are members of this home we call ‘earth’, the arthropods are treated as subjects with respect, care and understanding.

They are treated as another fellow human being, rendered in their, sometimes colourful, at times monotonous and excruciatingly cruel, natural environment.

Being true to the spirit of being natural, the photographing process did not employ artificial lighting, as in fill-in flash, setting up of their habitat nor putting them in captivity. The photographing process tends to be less intrusive, but observatory. Moreover they are neither treated as specimens nor photographed in great depth of field, but they are treated as a live model, explored in different angles, given focus on selected areas of their beauty. By diminishing the photographer’s presence, all attentions are centred at making the minute large, in so doing, perhaps wish that the audience could gain interest and better appreciation of their world. Documenting them in their moment is the greatest aspiration of the project.

I hunt for the Arthropod armed with a 100mm Macro lens, the Canon 350D initially (later with the 400D and recently the G1 with the 35mm macro) and the Monopod.

I have to keep myself light and agile in order to track down the Arthropod and lessen the body load I carry. It allows me to concentrate on the subjects better carrying simple and little equipment. Tracking in the nature reserve or the garden, I always bring along my water bottle, which keeps me hydrated. Most of the photographs are shot in Singapore and a few in Malaysia. Dragonfly

I learned the behaviour of the Libellulidae by observing them. I realized that if I stay stationary when it leaves its favourite spot, it will return to the same spot and I can than inch slowly nearer it while holding my breath or breathing slowly without making too much air movement, continue to fire my shutter. Libellulidae, like most insects, is not alarmed by the clicking of the shutter, but by sudden movement. I was glad to have been able to get so close to it.



How could I capture that beauty of a fluttering dragonfly? I always asked myself. It was not until I saw them against the setting sun that I finally found that angel-like wings flipping in the dazzles of flashing light. Yes, this made a perfect shot of that free-spirited beauty in Dragonfly. They flew against the softly blowing wind and in a seemingly happy movement, rising and descending a little, maintaining their position in the air.

In a sudden jerk it dived and clung onto the flower of the Heliconia. This is a perfect moment for me to capture it in its tussle against the gentle wind. I tried different shutter speeds and exposures, in order to achieve this image with the wings slightly blur in dashes of white; head and thorax in sharp focus emphasizing its determination and clarity of action. Somehow, it was not easy to see their struggle against the gentle wind, but we saw the beauty in the struggle.
What would life be without that little bit of struggle? What would achievement be without immense struggle? Nature is a constant struggle. In that gentle wind, the dragonfly has to flutter its wings to keep its position, otherwise it may be blown away and landed on the wrong places. I once saw an unlucky dragonfly fell into the pond, struggled and attracted the fishes. In one huge gulped the fish ate the dragonfly. A slight slack can result in its sudden death.
Dragonflies are known to be friendly towards human; they are predators that relentlessly consume flies, gnats, bees, butterflies and mosquitoes. These “Mosquito Hawk” are known to be the greatest enemies of mosquitoes. At young age, as nymphs living in the pond, they already started to feed on mosquitoes’ larva. They are fierce hunters in the air and can out maneuver their preys easily traveling between 30km/h and 60km/h, their flight are swift and more agile than those of any known birds. Their wings in its delicate structure works wonderfully in tensile stress, lifting the head, thorax and abdomen easily in split second. Dragonfly abilities to maintain flight in mid air and swoop down at its prey provided much inspiration for the helicopter invention. Igor Sikorsky, the father of helicopter, watched and drew inspiration from the Dragonfly.
We can learn from Dragonfly too, not just from its aerodynamic form but also from its strength in overcoming its weaknesses. In the tropics, the high temperature prevents the dragonfly to have long flight; flying heat up its body. Heat needs to be dissipated from underneath its wing, that explains why we see Dragonfly basking in the shade during a hot day or prolong flight, a process known as thermoregulation. This helps to reduce its temperature and balance it with the ambience temperature.

 
I watched this tired and ‘hot’ Dragonfly clung tightly onto the flower of the Heliconia. It had been flying for some time before taking that rest before me, however, the wind had become stronger and it had to constantly balance against the wind. Survival needs more than agility and skill; it needs determination. Its determination was commendable. It had to continuously change posture according to the wimp of the wind direction; angled its wings and tightening the claws helped to provide additional stability.
In this persistent struggle, it had to face another enemy, which had been silently nibbling away on the wings of this Dragonfly and it had no ways to remove it. It may die in the hand of this parasite. We could see a small insect on the left wing of this Dragonfly just next to the thorax. It was probably less than 1mm in size; it could be a minute wasp or flea. I scrutinized all the photographs I had taken and found this particular one showing it clearly. The Dragonfly needs the wings to function excellently for it to catch its prey, without it, it may just starve to death. This is Nature, many were born and many will face death.