Daily Book Graphics #1300

©1960

Daily Book Graphics #1290

©1977 / I bought this book at The Monkey's Paw in Toronto (described in the previous post). I spent more than I normally would, but this book relates to my other interests.

The Full State of America Print Series Now Available

In September I was commissioned to create a series of prints for Print Collection. We decided that the subject would be the official insignia of the American states which includes a surprisingly diverse collection of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, grasses, trees, fossils, minerals, insects and more. Back on November 5th we released the first installment of the State of America print series. I have now completed the other 29 states and they are available on PrintCollection.com. 

Daily Book Graphics #1245

©1971 / Design: David Ford

Bed Bugs for Halloween

We dressed up as bed bugs for Halloween. As you can see, the masks were in keeping with my recent work.

Daily Book Graphics #558 / Wasp Farm

©1973 / Design: Fred Troller / Photograph: Marshall Hendricks

Daily Book Graphics #556 / Social Life in the Insect World

©1938

Something I designed last night

11x17

Daily Book Graphics #349 / Butterflies and Moths

©1958

Daily Book Graphics #203 / Insects

These are from Insects: The 1952 Yearbook of Agriculture published by the United States Department of Agriculture. Illustrations by Art Cushman.

Daily Book Graphics #131 / Field Book of Insects

This is the third edition of Field Book of Insects, published in 1935. The first edition was published in 1918. Unfortunately, the color printing of the 1930's can't do justice to the quality of these illustrations. The hand lettered labels are really nice.

Macro Dead Insects

I have been playing around with shooting dead insects using extension tubes, my macro lens and a flash. I've been impressed with the level of detail. Click on the images below to get the full view.

This some sort of winged ant, probably caught in a spider web on its nuptial flight.

An unknown species of fly.

These are Crane Fly wings I've saved in my collection of insect parts recovered from spider webs (they may or may not be part of an upcoming project).

Daily Book Graphics #37 / Insects of Japan

I bought Field Guide Vol. 11 Insects of Japan (©1993) in Tokyo last year. I generally don't like photography based field guides (despite being the author of one), but this one does it right. The photographs in this book are all very crisp and give more space around the subject than most photo guides.

Flickrin'

I just uploaded some new invertebrate photos to Flickr if anyone is interested (I don't think anybody is interested).

Lord of the Ring Flash

I just got a cheap ring flash to use with the macro lens for my Nikon D80. The ring flash will let me get closer to tiny subjects. Until now I have been using the built in speedlight on the camera, the problem with that is that I can only get so close before the shadow of the lens barrel intrudes into the shot. I just started experimenting with the flash yesterday, already it seems like a big improvement. There are probably a lot of tricks of the trade I need to learn to get consistently good bug shots. Here are some of yesterday's results, it's best to click on them to see the detail.

Check out the clutch of eggs she is carrying, unfortunately, my back hallway is no place to raise a family.

Photographing Damselflies is extremely difficult they don't seem to stop moving...

If you click to enlarge on this you can see a lot of detail

I don't know what these are

If you click to enlarge this you can see the eye arrangement

Moth Wings

I found this pair of wings in a web near my front door. The spider appears to have eaten the body of the moth and left the non-nutritious wings behind.

Times Beach

Colette, Toby (my cousin) and I took a walk at Times Beach, a nature area on a former lake front industrial site. At one point we came around a bend in the trail and startled a skunk, it took a fraction of a second for all of us to simultaneously assess the situation. We turned tail and ran as fast as we could.

View of downtown Buffalo from the Times Beach sea wall

Ants milking aphids

Mayflies at the sidedoor

I watched this one get caught in a spider web. I hope it had already mated.

This one got caught in a fragment of an old spider web.

Mayflies appeared today on the side of the house. Some years they show up in fairly large numbers, I only noticed a few today. Mayflies (by which I mean all species in Ephemeroptera) are known for only living a very short time, this is somewhat misleading as they live in an aquatic nymph stage for a year. Here is the Wikipedia breakdown:

Mayflies are insects which belong to the Order Ephemeroptera (from the Greek ephemerospteron = "wing", referring to the short life span of adults). They have been placed into an ancient group of insects termed the Paleoptera, which also contains the dragonflies and damselflies. They are aquatic insects whose immature stage (called naiad or, colloquially, nymph) usually lasts one year in fresh water. The adults are short-lived, from a few hours to a few days depending on the species. About 2,500 species are known worldwide, including about 630 species in North America. Common names for mayflies include "dayfly", "shadfly", "Green Bay Flies", "Canadian soldier", and "fishfly."

...The lifespan of an adult mayfly can vary from just 30 minutes to one day depending on the species. The primary function of the adult is reproduction; the mouthparts are vestigial, and the digestive system is filled with air..

The strangest thing about Mayflies is that they are the only order of insects that moult after they have developed functioning wings. The stage is called the subimago (the final moult is called the imago), and may last only a matter of hours. Cool, huh?

Ladybug Wreckage

In the course of working on my current project (To Know the Spiders), I have spent a great deal of time exploring the peripheral spaces of my own house. In these spaces I have found and photographed a number of dead insects (and other invertebrates). This ladybug died on (or maybe in) one of the desk lamps in my studio. If you click on the picture you can see that the body is just an empty husk, the insides have been eaten by other bugs.

Albright Opening

The opening for my show (Other Orders) at the Albright-Knox Collectors Gallery happened last night. There was a steady flow of people through the show over the course of two hours, many of them familiar faces. There seemed to be a strong response to the paper cuts, particularly from the over fifty crowd. A lot of people will see the show over the next six weeks. Hopefully there will be some sales.