Latest / The Shed Organics Show / #61 - Exploring The Unseen World Through Macro Photography | Olle Amcoff [MossRanger]

Transcript

#61 - Exploring The Unseen World Through Macro Photography | Olle Amcoff [MossRanger] · The Shed Organics Show

0:00
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Shed
0:04
Organics Show. Today's episode we are joined by
0:08
Ollie Amcoff, who is a Swedish biologist and macro photographer
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who quite honestly, as I explained in this conversation,
0:19
I came across by accident sitting around the dinner table
0:22
with my family sharing photos of what macro photography of
0:25
insects actually looks like. And if you are new to this
0:29
episode, if you've just clicked on this and you don't know what
0:32
macro photography is or what Ollie does, this is the first
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time that I'm going to recommend going and checking out his work
0:39
before the conversation starts. So quickly pause the episode,
0:44
jump down into the description below, find Ollie's Instagram
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and go and have a look at the incredible photos that he takes
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through a macro lens. We had the incredible Craig,
0:54
Aussie art maker from a previous episode talking about macro
0:57
photography, but if this is your first introduction, go and check
1:00
it out first and come back to the show.
1:02
Great, now that you've done that, we can get on with the
1:05
conversation. You'll understand a little bit
1:07
more as to what is going on and how incredible some of this work
1:12
is. To be able to capture it really
1:14
brings to life, brings to our scale.
1:16
I think I said the same thing, the conversation, it brings to
1:19
our scale something that is so small that we often just walk
1:24
straight on past that we don't even notice.
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And it's bringing it to our life-size so we can appreciate
1:30
it and see the diversity and the complexity.
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It's just mind blowing. So let's do it.
1:35
Here is the conversation. This is Ollie Emco.
1:55
I'm at the bottom. I am a biologist but I've always
2:00
been very creative also. So ever since I picked up a
2:06
camera and started photographing, I, I have had
2:10
this almost obsession with sharing what I find as a
2:14
biologist and spreading knowledge and inspiration to
2:19
because my, well, my biggest goal is simplified is to save
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the world, like save all this nature that's being exploited.
2:29
And and yeah. And my way of doing that is
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spreading my knowledge and my creativity through my through my
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lens. And and yeah, that's.
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That's beautiful, man. I feel like we're all trying to
2:43
do that in some way. Hey, this trying to save the
2:47
world. But I love how you you said in
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in your own way, you're just doing we're all trying to do
2:52
that essentially, but in our own strengths and interests.
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So what came first then? Was it biology that sort of
3:00
kicked everything off that that was an interest of yours to go
3:04
down and study before the the camera come comes out?
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Yeah, ever since I was a small child, I, I've been obsessed
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with nature. My my biggest dream as as a
3:16
child was to become a zookeeper. And I've always been so drawn to
3:23
like picking mushrooms since a very young age, going fishing,
3:27
just hanging out in nature. And so that's been been with me
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all my life. So, so when I finished high
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school and wanted to decide what to do in life, I just, I knew I
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wanted to do something with nature and just it turned out to
3:45
be biology since it's quite broad and and it gave me a good
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stable ground to to grow on. Brilliant.
3:54
Let's dive into that biology a little bit then, if you don't
3:57
mind. What areas of biology are you
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currently specializing in? How did you get to where you
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are? And what's I mean, does it go
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hand in hand with the types of things that you're taking photos
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of? Yeah, sure.
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So I have a bachelor's degree in biology which I acquired last
4:16
spring and so but what I specialize in, I've also worked
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as a field biologist in in inventory work.
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So I've been in the Swedish mountains and grasslands and
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many different types of habitats and just the inventory of
4:38
different species. So and what, what I love the
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most is the the things what I've grown to love is the very small
4:47
things that that not everyone can see.
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You really have to stop and observe it to, to even get a
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glimpse at. And so Moss, verified lichens,
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fungi, insects, like all these small many many organisms that
5:08
are usually unseen. I think you're, what you're
5:13
doing for me at least, is you're bringing, I guess not to life,
5:21
but like to life-size more so more so of this tiny world,
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making it somewhat relatable in terms of how it's viewed and how
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it comes across. And just, you know, for anyone
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listening that is yet to kind of truly understand some of these
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small creatures, man, they look like aliens from other planets.
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And I highly recommend, I mean, I highly recommend everyone go
5:52
and check out your work regardless.
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But the some of these things that you're discovering just
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look so crazy and out of this world when they're blown up up
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close. What was that discovery like for
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you when you first kind of got those photos?
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Was it like whoa? Yeah, it's, it's almost.
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It's hard to describe like it's, but that's that's, that's the
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thing with macro is that every time you go out, you can explore
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something new. Even though I've photographed
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thousands of species and like I've been out in nature so much
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I've. I can always find something new.
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But yeah, some of these insects and there are so many species
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that I mean, as before I've got into biology, I, I thought like,
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yeah, there's a mass, there's some trees, but you don't really
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understand the depths of like the shapes.
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And yeah, the each, each Organism is so special and so
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like individual. And once you zoom in and like
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really observe some of these things, it's just absolutely
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mind blowing. They really look like aliens.
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They do, and I guess that's the most kind of in your face thing
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that comes out of it straight away.
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It's like, wow, these things look strange, but it's not
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necessarily just that. As you mentioned, there's the
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the roles or the purpose as to why they're part of the
7:31
ecosystem and how crucial they are in terms of doing certain
7:36
jobs that we need and without which we would be in or the
7:41
ecology would be in some trouble.
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Do you have some examples of kind of some of your favorite
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things that have really stuck out to you in terms of like
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special things that these organisms are doing as part of
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an ecosystem? And for example, I'll give you
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one example I'm thinking of with fungus connecting all of the
8:03
roots underneath and sending signals in terms of nutrients
8:09
and availability, communication, pests, all of this type of
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thing. Is there anything else that
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really stands out to you in your field work that you've come
8:16
across that's kind of a little bit out there?
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Yeah, I mean, it's this the ecology of species is is what
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it's almost like a dictionary to nature.
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You like you can if I like is before I got into biology,
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walking in the forest, I, I didn't really it's like walking
8:41
in neighborhood, but you don't know any of the people living
8:44
there. But once you get to know and
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learn about the these connections and the symbiosis
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and stuff like that, it's like you walking in a neighbor full
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of your friends, like, you know, everyone's like life story.
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It's like once you get to know how a species lives, what it
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eats and yeah, where it sleeps like it's yeah, it's just
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getting to know nature at a different level.
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So there are there are some, there are so many like cool,
9:18
like adaptations in in, in nature.
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I have one one an orchid that it imitates A honeybee or AI don't
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know the English word but it's it's a flying.
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Maybe. It's some it's some scientific
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term that I only know in Swedish, but that's OK.
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It it imitates an insect basically and it it secrets like
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the smell of an insect. So wow, it's full.
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It tricks the insect to come and mate with the flower and by by
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the insect mating with the flower, it also pollinates the
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orchid. And that's the only way it can,
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like, reproduce. Wow.
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And it's yeah, so many of these, like, insane adaptations.
10:07
That's yeah. Just blow your mind every time.
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You, I'm sure and and I feel like that's what's wonderful
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about discovering nature itself. You just kind of, there's always
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something else going on. That's just the extra layers of
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complexity that comes in. And the other thing that you
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sort of see nature doing as one of its central pillars is
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diversifying, right. So I noticed that, you know,
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you've, you've obviously been capturing a whole bunch of
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different species, but to to even see the variations within
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some of the species and then the variations of all the different
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types of one particular insect. There's just so, so much out
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there. How do you how do you sort of
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choose where to narrow your focus when it comes to that?
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Or are you just generally whatever comes along, observing
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different ecologies, you're not going necessarily hunting for
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specific species to look at? Or are you just looking at the
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whole ecosystem and kind of what's there?
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Yeah, it's it's a common theme theme among like we, we have a
11:19
thing in Sweden called the Ark Potalin, which is basically the
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species portal that you can report species.
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So it's become kind of a thing to try to find as many species
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and report them as possible, so. That's brilliant.
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What comes with that is to have like a pinpoint focus or how you
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say you have to have some kind of like limit to your focus.
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If you want to get really good at something, you can't so many,
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no, it you can't be like an expert in insects and an expert
12:02
in the bryophytes. It's just too much to know you
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can be really good at both of them.
12:07
But if you really want to get really good at something, you
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have to narrow your search a bit.
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So it's quite common to, for people to be quite into lichens
12:16
or bryophytes or insects or birds.
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So my, I would say my main focus is bryophytes.
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So that's like, if I go out, I, I, maybe I look for a habitat
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that is suitable for bryophytes, but that's.
12:34
Moss, isn't it? Yeah, that Moss.
12:36
Moss and labor wards. So that's a scientific term for
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but along that journey when I look for for Moss and
12:44
Liverworths, I always find others spectacular things like
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insects and the lichens and the fungi and fly modes and
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everything of. Course, of course, that's,
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that's really cool. So can we touch on Moss just
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quickly, because I understand that one of the roles of Moss in
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an ecosystem is to do a lot of filtering in the water because
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it's, well, it seems to do a lot of filtering and, and in aquatic
13:15
situations, for instance, we've got a, a fish tank and it's good
13:18
to have the Moss in there because it's helpful for
13:22
filtering through that water that's running through it.
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What else can you tell us about Moss?
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And is that actually correct? First and foremost, what else
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can you tell us about Moss? That's a couple of things that
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it's role in the ecosystem. Well, I don't.
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I don't have specific knowledge of just that specific filtering
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mechanism, but I know that Moss they are they are one of the
13:48
oldest living organisms. So their their role in the
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ecosystems are very important. And so I don't, I don't have
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like there are many very complicated the chemical like,
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and these adaptations that, that have more of a climate, climate
14:11
impact, but I, I'm more more focused on the species
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diversification and the, the different adaptations.
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So I so I know more about that like.
14:24
OK. Well, yeah, tell us a bit about
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that. So, yeah, I mean, they most are,
14:30
are one of the most diverse and yeah, they they they can adapt
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to many different environments. Like they can be at the the
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driest, driest, like grassland and also the of course the most
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wet, like ravine and stuff. So I mean, that's also what's so
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great about mouse is that they can all these small adaptations
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and and stuff are, are are so amazing like, but I would say
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mostly they they grow at places that have a very high humidity.
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I've noticed that, yeah, especially, well, that's because
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we get a lot, a lot of Moss here in Queensland, in Australia.
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So, yeah, heavy tropical subtropical environment and
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plenty of Moss and that kind of thing going on.
15:33
Yeah. But yeah, it's the, it's one of
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the most like under, you know, under appreciated areas.
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And I think that's what's really cool about your work is that
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you're able to showcase the, as you mentioned earlier, the
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things that are normally unseen. So then bringing in photography
15:53
now is that like you're always taking your macro lens out.
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And for those that don't understand, macro photography is
16:00
basically taking photos of really, really small things.
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But it's also, again, correct me if I'm wrong, it's when you go
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and edit these photos, you're able to get focus all the way
16:15
through the depth of field. Like you're, you're able to get
16:18
focus from front to back of this insect.
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And it's not just a normal lens look where you've got the focal
16:26
point on one particular point. It goes all the way through this
16:29
insect, gives so much detail to whatever the insect is or the
16:34
Moss or fungi or whatever you're taking photos of.
16:39
So is that, is that correct? Is that what is going on?
16:41
And do you always take your macro lens out on field work?
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I, when I, when I work like with with the for for a company or
16:54
university or something like that, I usually don't have my
16:56
camera. But when I'm out on my free
16:57
time, I, I usually bring them out.
17:00
OK, my camera gear. So yeah.
17:03
But the other question. About the what was it when
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you're when you're editing? So you've got the photo?
17:11
Yeah. All the way through.
17:13
SO yeah, it's it's like a rule with macro photography is or any
17:19
photography in general when you zoom out like when you have a
17:24
normal lens, you are able to have a lot of things in focus,
17:30
but the closer you get the the most shallow the field of view
17:35
gets sort of field of the focus playing gets.
17:38
So when I'm shooting the, the smallest things, like at the,
17:43
the biggest magnification and, and the most cropped, it's, it's
17:48
just the, the field of view is like a small, small Shard of
17:52
the, the viewfinder. So in order to have a photo that
17:58
well, I, I like to, to illustrate species mostly.
18:02
So if I want to illustrate them and make people be able to see
18:08
them in detail, I have to take many pictures.
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And by doing the process of doing that is taking pictures
18:16
from the front of a subject from sort of small Shard of focus is
18:20
in the front. And I take like up to 100
18:23
pictures of the same subject. But I move the focus plane from
18:26
the front slowly to the back. And I have a program that
18:33
combines all these photos together that and makes the
18:36
entire subject in focus. Brilliant.
18:39
Well, it looks incredible. It looks really, really cool.
18:43
I've had the pleasure of having a gentleman who does that work
18:49
in Australia and he, he has his own version of this, this hood
18:54
that goes on and some. Yeah, that was my first sort of
18:59
introduction to it. And then I actually was it came
19:03
up around the dinner table with my family.
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We were all talking about macro photography.
19:07
My brother's in a photographer himself.
19:09
And then I said, Oh, you know, macro photography can take
19:13
photos of all these incredible insects and things.
19:15
I just typed, I think something about macro and insects into
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Instagram. And I found your page and I was
19:23
showing all my family, all of your photos going look how crazy
19:26
some of these things are. And but just your, you know,
19:30
the, the first look that everybody gets on these, they're
19:34
just kind of jaw drops to the floor.
19:37
And I know that like, you know, obviously when you take, you
19:42
take the photo, so you get a little bit of a preview when
19:44
you're up there and looking at the subject and lining it up.
19:47
So you kind of know where it's going to end up.
19:50
But surely looking back at all of these prints and things, you
19:58
know, you've seen them in so much detail and stuff.
20:00
How is the impact that you give other people on you like the
20:05
reaction to all of your work? How's that?
20:09
I mean, it's, I used, I used to do bird photography and wildlife
20:14
photography a lot and people's reaction to that were, were
20:19
great. But once I started, like once I
20:23
showed them a picture of an insect, the different, the
20:27
reaction is completely different.
20:28
They are just completely in awe of this remarkable creature.
20:33
So that's, that's a very big part of, of what started the
20:38
fascination for me. Because of course I also get
20:41
that when I go and go through my photos and like, I'm like, what,
20:46
what is this creature like? So yeah, that's, that's a very
20:51
big part of I, I love wildlife and bird photography as well.
20:55
But just the this, the, the feeling of all you get when you
21:00
you shoot macro is it's just something else, man.
21:03
It really is and have has your work ended up anywhere?
21:07
Are you? I mean, I know you sell your own
21:09
calendars when and stuff like there's some amazing stuff in
21:12
prints and all sorts, but have you submitted your work anywhere
21:17
to to place it anywhere like that?
21:21
Not, not really. Do you mean like museums or
21:25
stuff or? Anything.
21:26
Literally anything. Yeah.
21:28
I don't know where these I haven't go.
21:32
I haven't really really started doing that yet.
21:36
I've just, I mean, my journey, I've been uploading on social
21:42
media for a while, but it, it was that this spring that I
21:45
actually started growing really rapidly, right?
21:48
OK, like not more than a year ago, I didn't have I, I think I
21:54
had like 2000 followers or something.
21:57
So my my growth have been very exponential you can say.
22:02
It really, Well, yes, it. Has so I have.
22:08
I'm just in the in the start process right now of, of
22:11
getting, get setting my, I'm starting my own company and
22:16
stuff like that. So to achieve all these things.
22:20
But yeah, not I haven't done a lot of exhibitions or stuff like
22:25
that yet. I'm not looking for the right
22:28
opportunity. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
22:29
OK. Well, sorry, I didn't understand
22:31
that it was necessarily so new. This is what I also like finding
22:34
out about guests like I, I do do a bit of research into
22:40
understanding kind of what you do so I can ask questions that
22:43
highlight some of those things. But I really like to learn a lot
22:47
of these things in real time so that we can get a genuine
22:51
reaction. Because I think that
22:53
understanding too much about you going in leaves it, you know, it
22:58
leaves me open to kind of just pushing it down a certain way.
23:01
And I like to let you kind of take things in your own
23:04
direction. So I really am interested by
23:07
that now. So then if you've had this kind
23:10
of sudden burst on onto the scene in terms of just not
23:15
necessarily that you haven't been doing this for a while, but
23:17
that, you know, people are starting to recognize your work
23:20
and rightly so. But what does it get you
23:24
thinking like what is the, what has it changed?
23:27
What the original path was for you, now that you're kind of
23:31
starting to see lots of recognition from your work.
23:35
Yeah, it's been, it's been a really good like because I, I
23:42
was stuck on on, on about 2000 followers for a while.
23:48
Like I, I, I just, I was stuck on Instagram.
23:51
I uploaded a lot and I, I tried a lot and, and I got I, I knew
23:58
my photography was good and I knew that like I had the
24:01
potential, but it's just some, the algorithm just didn't like
24:06
me or something. So the, the follower count and
24:11
the, the recognition I've been getting is it's, it acts as a
24:16
great validation that because, I mean, I knew it before, like not
24:22
to brag or anything, but I knew like when I showed one of my
24:25
pictures to to someone or my friend or someone new, like
24:29
they, they all went like, wow, this is, this is so cool.
24:33
So I knew that people liked it, but I just hadn't gotten the,
24:39
the recognition yet. But now that I've gotten that
24:43
it, it, it acts as a great like ground pillar.
24:47
And it's, it's, it's great that people like you can find me and,
24:51
and I can like, like get my art into the world because my goal
24:55
from the start has been to spread as much knowledge and
24:59
inspiration as possible through my work.
25:01
So getting, getting recognition and I mean, social media
25:06
following is, is very, very nice.
25:09
So, and I've, I've been a whole, I hold up, held up my, my
25:15
journey, my photography journey after my biology education
25:21
because I had all these student loans, but I just, I didn't
25:25
really think I could do it when I just, I didn't, I didn't think
25:29
there was a market for it because no one seemed to look at
25:33
my work on Instagram or, or social media.
25:36
So, but when I got the recognition, I got a bit more
25:40
motivation to, to pursue that journey.
25:43
So that's, that's been a really good like confidence boost for
25:48
sure. I I can totally understand that
25:52
makes a lot of sense because it can be, you know, somebody just
25:56
put puts out content as well. Like it, it can be like you're
25:59
kind of just speaking to nobody. Yeah.
26:03
And you're right though, because when you test and show your work
26:08
to people around you, or sometimes it's hard with the
26:11
people that know you. But if you show it to people
26:13
and, and they get this genuine reaction, then you kind of
26:19
think, then why is it not making waves on a bigger scale?
26:24
But it's a matter of proving to the algorithm that you're
26:27
consistent, right? It's a matter of just showing up
26:30
constantly and believing in yourself, having this kind of
26:34
almost too much belief in yourself, this unwavering belief
26:41
in yourself that you just, you're going to do it.
26:43
And it takes that kind of self belief to to know that your
26:48
stuff's good, especially, you know, it's not being delusional
26:51
about it, but it's being, it's understanding.
26:53
Look, I've worked hard for this. I know this is good, but I just
26:57
need to be consistent. So I'm, I'm so pleased for you,
26:59
man, that it's found some, some viewers and that thank you
27:04
because that does give you a boost.
27:06
And then it allows you to have a bit of a platform to start
27:09
turning what you'd love into more of a, an income to be able
27:12
to set yourself up. Yeah, cool.
27:16
So then in terms of I want to go back to some of the photography
27:21
stuff as well, like because of all this stuff is so small, when
27:27
you set out on your photography missions on your own or whatever
27:31
it is with with others, are you looking for something that you
27:37
want to photograph or are you going to go and try and get
27:40
really close and inspect or just go for a wander and see what you
27:44
find? How's the different thought
27:46
patterns? So I, I use my knowledge of
27:54
biology knowledge a lot there. I usually go out and I have
28:00
acquired like a vision, an ecological vision.
28:04
Like I can recognize patterns really well.
28:07
So when I when I'm out, I there are like scales to my vision.
28:14
I the biggest scale is like the area that I want to visit and it
28:21
then I have certain requirements like, yeah, I want, I want it to
28:24
be maybe a forest or a grassland that has, it hasn't been ruined
28:30
by like exploitation or something like that.
28:35
So I have that's like level 1 and then level 2 like looking
28:42
around this area, like trying to find part of the forest that had
28:47
more Deadwood or something like that.
28:50
And next level like looking at the Deadwood, the Deadwood has
28:55
to have a certain degree of decay for certain species to
29:00
want to grow there. And another level looking at
29:04
that specific log, looking around like at the Moss at the
29:09
the different organisms there. And that's, that's like where so
29:12
we have to filter this this vision all the time.
29:15
So. That makes a.
29:16
Lot of sense my, my biology education and my, my knowledge
29:20
of, of nature is, has, it's really crucial in that path
29:25
actually. Hey guys, really quickly jumping
29:27
in. I just want to remind you if you
29:29
are not subscribed to this show, that is the number one thing
29:32
that you can do to show me your support.
29:35
So if you're finding value from this conversation and you're
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deeply engaged, I would love you to hit the follow or subscribe
29:41
button. All right, back to the show.
29:43
Yeah. So then you're, so you're
29:44
basically you'll choose somewhere and go, OK, I'm going
29:46
to go to the forest today. And then you're wandering around
29:50
the forest and you go, OK, normally I'll find say, well,
29:55
then that's, that's probably a good place to actually make a
29:58
decision, isn't it? Because then you can choose
30:00
Deadwood for fungi maybe. Or you can choose a stream
30:06
somewhere where there's some water so that you can get more
30:09
Moss or any, any of these types of things.
30:11
Is that kind of what, what you'll do?
30:14
OK, I want to get a Moss today or I want to get a, a fungus
30:18
today. Or why don't you, Why don't we
30:20
try and do a bit of everything? Because it's what I've walked
30:22
past. Yeah, some sometimes you have
30:26
like I have like a concentrated search like you can, as I
30:33
mentioned before, this species portal we have in Sweden.
30:36
So you can look at reports of what different species that has
30:40
been reported on different locations.
30:42
So sometimes I, I, I go out looking for a specific Moss or a
30:48
fungi or something, and that's my like, goal species for the
30:52
day. But they species like that can
30:55
also be a great indicator of say it, it, it is a Moss that has
31:01
very specific requirements for, for its habitat.
31:05
Like it has to be a old growth forest, really humid.
31:09
Then I can just by knowing that species exists there, I also
31:13
know that that's going to be a great place to find other
31:16
species as well. Like other species that aren't
31:19
as like picky with their habitat are going to thrive there
31:25
because it's such a suitable habitat for this very, very
31:27
picky species. So that can also be a great
31:30
indicator that I use sometimes. So but it's, it's different.
31:33
Like I, I always like find stuff along the way.
31:38
It's that's the thing with micro photography.
31:39
You can. You can always find something
31:41
even in the weirdest and most yeah, unexpected places.
31:47
Exactly because like the most obvious thing to us walking past
31:53
might when taken through a macro lens look completely different
31:57
and well, any life in general through a macro lens looks
32:00
incredibly different. Cool.
32:04
Well, is there anything in particular that you're really
32:07
proud of having found and taken a photo of and and, or is there
32:12
anything that you hope to collect in that sort of in that
32:17
way? Yeah, I mean, I have like I
32:22
usually have categories at least in my head.
32:26
Like I, I photograph a lot of species to for, for scientific
32:32
on a scientific purpose. Like I've photographed many
32:36
species that maybe have have not been captured by a a good camera
32:41
before. So I'm cool making people be
32:45
able to see that species, like at a much larger scale or
32:51
something like that. That that to me is a very cool
32:56
thing to like take the first picture or good picture of a, of
33:01
a species. So I have a few like that that
33:04
I'm quite proud of, but also the other part of that is like
33:09
aesthetic photography. Like you, when I take a portrait
33:12
of a insane insect or bryophyte or something like that, that's
33:18
also a very big part. And I have, I think my, my
33:22
favorite like really like once in a lifetime photo is this.
33:30
I have a shot of a crane fly larva that it has like the butt
33:38
of this crane fly larva looks exactly like a face.
33:42
So I was like out in spring and I found a little larvae and I
33:47
just, I couldn't find its head. I just, it was just, yeah, I'm
33:51
just trying to get a hold of this larvae.
33:54
But so for about like 10 seconds, it like rolled up its
34:01
butt. I thought it was his face, but
34:02
it apparently was its butt. It rolled up its butt and like
34:07
stood completely still for like 10 seconds.
34:10
And I had my camera ready and I shot it.
34:12
That's awesome. And yeah, the photo was, yeah,
34:15
it just looks insane. And yeah, I found out later that
34:19
they like the eyes, that what I thought were eyes were like the
34:22
breathing organs and. Oh my goodness.
34:26
It was like, yeah, I don't think I will ever get a shot of like
34:29
that again. It was just like insane
34:32
coincidence. And the thing looks extremely
34:36
weird and fascinating. I love those stories.
34:41
That's really cool. Yeah.
34:42
Because that's, you know, you don't expect.
34:45
Well, you can't make nature do what you want for a photograph,
34:48
let alone that scale as well. Some of these insects are there
34:51
for split seconds before they're gone again.
34:56
Surely there's a lot of missed opportunities, too, where you
34:59
have seen something and then gone to painstakingly get close
35:03
to it to set up with this camera, and then it disappears.
35:06
Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
35:08
I mean, the the good thing about shooting like lichens and the
35:12
fungi and pry fights is that they don't fly away.
35:16
When I had when I was shot more birds and stuff, that was like
35:22
big part like you find this super rare bird perfect lighting
35:26
and then you just one second too late and grabbing your camera.
35:30
So that can really ruin your day.
35:32
But that's one of the great things about shooting, things
35:37
that can't really move. Yeah, it's like, yeah, it can't,
35:43
just can't run away. It's like sitting there, sitting
35:46
duck ready for you to take a photo of it.
35:48
Yeah, the birds one is funny because you almost have to have
35:52
your camera ready, like walking around sort of wherever you look
35:56
so you can just point and shoot. Speaking of scale, then, how
36:01
many times are you blowing this up in terms of like
36:05
magnification and how many times smaller is it than what we're
36:11
seeing scale wise? I mean it's depend.
36:16
It is. It is quite hard to measure like
36:19
the the measuring tools are. They're different on like
36:25
microscopes and macro lenses and but it is my my lens that I can
36:33
get the closest with is 5 to 1 magnification and that is like
36:42
my viewfinder, like the screen in my camera.
36:45
If I were to hold that up on my finger or something, it would be
36:51
like maybe a the smallest Shard of my nail or something.
36:56
It's like. Very, very small.
36:58
And then I also have a cropping function in my camera that
37:02
allows me to get, I think maybe double that or a bit less than
37:08
double that. So and then I can also crop on
37:13
that in editing. Yeah.
37:16
Post processing so it's quite hard to measure but I can get
37:22
extremely close. Yeah.
37:24
Well, exactly. And but then is it hard to keep
37:28
still? Because, I mean, I'm sure a lot
37:32
of these things have some stabilizing functions within
37:34
them, But like, you want all of these photos to be in focus of
37:39
the same thing on a very small scale.
37:41
So even just pushing the button and shaking a bit, you'd kind of
37:46
skew it. How does that work?
37:48
Yeah, it's with that lens, I cannot, I can't shoot like
37:54
handheld. I I have to have a stabilizer or
38:00
what I usually do since I I don't have the patients to have
38:05
I don't know the the word like the.
38:08
Tripod. Yeah, tripod.
38:09
Yeah, tripod. I don't have the patience to
38:12
like set up a tripod for every shot because I shoot so many
38:15
different species. I usually do it handheld.
38:17
So then I have to, I have learned to hold my hands really
38:24
steady, but I have to lean them against like the ground or the
38:29
log or the thing that I'm shooting on for it to be even
38:32
possible. And even then, I usually miss
38:35
some shots that I have to try to fix in, in post processing or
38:42
stuff like that because yeah, it just takes one of these 50
38:46
photos to be out of focus or be a bit shaky that they can
38:51
compromise your entire image. So yeah, it's definitely a
38:54
challenge, but I've I've done it so many times, I've gotten quite
38:58
good at it. That's really, really cool.
39:01
And well, yeah, you have actually, because all of your
39:04
images are insane. So then kind of looking forward
39:11
then I presume you've got two different, excuse the pun,
39:16
lenses to look through your future at like you've got still
39:19
biology and biologic field work. Is that one area?
39:25
And then obviously the macro. So then in terms of the biology
39:28
stuff like where are you hoping to go with that and your study
39:32
with that? Well, I I hope to combine the
39:39
the my 2 interest. Actually, I, I hope to like
39:44
make, make movies and amazing. Yeah, just use my, I want to
39:53
like, use my biological brain. You can say like, I want to find
39:58
all these endangered species and stuff like that and then bring
40:03
them out. With my camera.
40:06
So I hope if I can do that in some way where I can make a
40:11
living through it, that would be a dream come true.
40:14
Yeah, that's all. So that's.
40:17
That's my ultimate goal. Yeah.
40:19
So then combining the two and then being able to, well,
40:22
they're very much aligned anyway as they are, aren't they?
40:25
Because they're both involved, involved in nature.
40:28
Tell me about then Sweden, because you know, such a, a lot
40:32
of my listeners are here in Australia and we don't
40:37
necessarily have a hugely comparable climate.
40:42
Can you tell me a little bit about the climate in Sweden,
40:45
maybe where you are, and then some of the types of ecosystems
40:50
that are represented in Sweden? Yeah.
40:53
So we have in Sweden very distinct seasons.
40:58
So we have a really cold winter, often like negative today it's
41:05
like -10 I think outside, so a bunch of snow everywhere.
41:10
It feels like nothing is alive really, just some that all the
41:15
birds move away and not all the birds, but most of the birds
41:18
move away. They come back in spring.
41:19
So spring is like, yeah, just just quite stereotypical, like
41:25
seasons, like the leaves falling in the in the autumn and
41:29
everything coming live with the pollen and stuff like that in
41:31
the spring. So it's, it's really quite harsh
41:34
shifts. And the summers, the more north
41:37
you get, the shorter the summer is.
41:41
Wow. So but predominantly we have
41:45
like these pine forests or coniferous forests.
41:52
That's why it like dominates the the environment.
41:56
Unfortunately, so much of our forest here have been exploited
42:01
by wood, wood cutting and stuff like that.
42:07
But that's like, if you look at a map, you see a bunch of green.
42:11
It's a bunch of pine forests, but they are more like pine
42:20
plantations now since so much have been cut down and and
42:23
planted. But we also have like this a lot
42:29
of all, all of our mountains up in the north northwest.
42:34
We have a a very large patch of like mountains.
42:38
We call them Fiel and all of that area, most of that area is
42:43
protected through a a like law. So that's that's the closest
42:49
thing I would say we have to real wilderness in Sweden.
42:52
Like they the indigenous people, the salmon, the summer have have
43:01
they have been, have they reindeers there They are gracing
43:04
the land and have been doing so for for a very long.
43:06
But other than that, it's almost a complete wilderness up there.
43:11
So there you have a bunch of awesome adaptations and like,
43:16
yeah, with the snow melting and a bunch of species species
43:20
adapting to that. And like I've been up there and
43:24
doing inventory for so much. So I, I have seen a bunch of
43:29
just so fascinating environments up there.
43:32
And we also have these islands, Orland and Gotland that has like
43:39
Calcarius, a bunch of the, the entire ground is like Calcarius.
43:45
So there are a bunch of orchids and very special things living
43:48
there. So yeah, it's it's I could go on
43:52
for hours. So.
43:53
That's OK. That's no, no, no, it's not
43:55
boring at all. That's a really cool snapshot
43:57
because we don't have anything like that really.
44:00
I mean, we've got some vast differences as well, but
44:04
especially here in Queensland that I can speak for.
44:08
We certainly don't have any snow.
44:10
So that's a massive thing. Like through our winter, we're
44:13
growing most of our food here because it's 25°C during the day
44:23
and maybe gets down to single digits at night.
44:28
So not really that cold. So you can grow lots of really
44:31
nice things that. But in the summer it's mid 30s
44:35
sometimes you know what, on average mid 30s degrees every
44:40
day and very humid. So it's very hard to grow things
44:45
and you know, not to mention going out into the the Outback
44:49
and in the deserts and things where it's very, very hot and
44:52
very, very cold in different ways.
44:55
But we here in Australia are very lucky because we've seen
44:58
some incredible adaptations in species that are, you know, only
45:03
found here in compare comparison to the world.
45:07
Looking outwards from Sweden then like where where else
45:11
interests you in the world to want to take some of your work?
45:15
Like do you want to go and visit different places or where do you
45:18
feel drawn to go and visit? Yeah, I mean you can find the
45:26
stuff everywhere really. But I would, I would love to, to
45:31
go to like the Australia or, or Canada.
45:36
And there's so many places I, I would love to discover like the
45:40
Amazon. And it would be, it would be so
45:44
cool to, to be able to, to go there.
45:47
But I don't have any, any specific like I think Sweden is.
45:52
I have so much left to explore here.
45:54
But to travel elsewhere would be yeah, also a big, big dream come
46:00
true. But I tried to limit my my
46:03
flying and stuff like that and I I don't have the best financial
46:08
situation now. Even though I have a lot of
46:09
followers, Instagram doesn't. That's all right.
46:11
Yeah, of. Course pay anything so it.
46:14
Doesn't. But if the right opportunity
46:18
reveals itself, I I'm I'm always down to explore because with
46:23
macro photography you can find stuff everywhere.
46:26
So. Yeah, well, exactly right.
46:28
And you know, for me, like we, it's funny because like a lot of
46:31
people in Europe always come on holiday over this side of the
46:34
world and vice versa. We always tend to go over to to
46:37
Europe. So it always feels like other
46:40
parts of the world, you know, more interesting than your own
46:43
backyard. But realistically, when you turn
46:45
around and go and explore what you have on offer in your
46:48
country, there's some just incredible diversity, ecology,
46:52
things like that. I mean, so speaking for
46:55
Australia, it's as I said before, there's so many
46:57
different environments, such a massive country.
47:01
It just you, you can't ever really cover it all.
47:06
So, so yen, what can we expect from you then in the next coming
47:13
months to years? Like, I know I want to promote
47:16
the calendar because I know you've just dropped one for this
47:21
year. It's still somewhat early.
47:23
So if, if people haven't got their calendars yet, then you
47:27
can still get one, You can gift one.
47:29
They they look crazy cool, but what other sort of things that
47:32
you got coming up in the coming weeks and months and whatever
47:35
they've got your focus. So my biggest passion product
47:41
right now is I'm going to start a YouTube channel.
47:45
Cool, making my own like more in depth, not not this short format
47:51
like I do on Instagram. I try to go more in depth and
47:56
taking people with me on my journey.
47:58
So that's my, that's my big project.
48:02
Is that out yet? Can I link that down in the
48:05
comments and stuff for you? Yeah.
48:07
I only have one one video yet, but that's all right.
48:10
Things will be gone out. You can absolutely link that.
48:12
So that will be great and maybe I'll have some television
48:17
projects filming for television, actually some wildlife and macro
48:21
stuff like that coming out. But yeah, but a bunch of
48:25
exciting stuff. But if people want to keep in
48:28
contact, you can just follow me on Instagram.
48:30
I will be advertising everything I do there so.
48:34
Yeah, cool, cool take. Me out on it.
48:36
Yeah, well, I, I reckon everybody should because, yeah,
48:39
some of the things that you've been highlighting, man, really
48:42
caught my eye for sure. Like, and, and there's no
48:45
secrets as to why. Like, it's just so crazy good
48:48
what you're doing. So I look forward to following
48:52
your journey and seeing what you're up to and continuing to
48:54
follow along. It's been exciting to meet you,
48:56
man. Thank you.
48:57
Yeah, you too. And then we have it, ladies and
49:16
gentlemen, what an incredible insight into the world of macro
49:19
photography. If you haven't gone and checked
49:22
out his links, they are in the description as usual.
49:25
And go and follow him on on Instagram because some of those
49:28
shots are just mind blowing and he's not done.
49:31
There will be plenty more to come and he will showcase
49:34
everything there. So go and check that out and
49:36
follow along. Otherwise, if you enjoyed the
49:38
episode, as always, leave a like subscribe, hit the follow
49:42
button. It's the number one thing that
49:43
you can do to help me out and help this show reach more
49:46
people. But otherwise, thanks again.
49:49
Appreciate you and see you on the next episode.
49:51
Take care and bye for now.