Invasion of the Eight-Spotted Foresters {New Braunfels photographer}

Spring is in full bloom, along with wonderful light, but I've been so busy with my book that I haven't had much opportunity to take my camera out to shoot anything. That changed suddenly yesterday, when I went out into the back yard to check on the beagles. That's when I noticed something had made a nice meal of a bunch of leaves on my grape vines. I've got several grape vines growing along the kennel fence--including muscadines--all of which are supposed to be generally pest free. So I looked a little closer and discovered these little fellows hiding under the leaves:

Now, we get quite a few caterpillars at out house, because of all the passion vines I like to grow. But I've never seen this type before, and in the eight-plus years we've lived here, I've never seen anything munch on the grape vines. So I rushed into the house, grabbed my camera and macro lens, and spent the next 20 or so minutes contorting this way and that to get some good closeup shots of these interesting, white-and-black-and-orange caterpillars. Turns out they are likely the juvenile form of the Eight-Spotted Forester moth--a fairly pretty moth, actually--but one whose young likes to munch on grape vines.

Fortunately, the damage doesn't appear too extensive, and they show no sign of going after the young fruit, only the leaves. I'll keep an eye on them and come up with some sort of relocation plan if their population explodes. To be honest, I'm glad they paid me a visit. It gave me an excuse to play with macro photography, and I always love photographing caterpillars. They look like creatures from an alien world to me. They're beautiful, and someday I hope to do a whole series of prints featuring the different species I've shot. I'll leave you now with one final image, not of the Eight-Spotted Foresters, but one of many Gulf Fritillary caterpillars currently gorging themselves on my passion vines. This one's treating a blue caerulea passion flower as its own personal buffet. I think the colors are otherworldly. Enjoy!

Lisa On Location Photography

The smallest subjects {New Braunfels Photographer}

Howdy folks, Jayme here again. We've already had several freezes here as winter makes its gradual approach, but the other day a flash of bright green on one of Lisa's rose bushes caught my attention. Looking closely, I was more than a little surprised to discover an automeris io caterpillar munching on some rose leaves (it was chilly, so it was munching very slowly!). These little fellows grow up to be beautiful io moths:



We have more than our share of caterpillars around the house, but this is the first I've ever seen this species outside of a book. It's got impressive tufts of defensive spines that will give you a nasty sting if you touch it, and rad white-and-maroon racing stripes running the length of its body. I instantly became obsessed with photographing it. I grabbed the 5D and my makeshift macro lens--a Nikon 50mm 1.8 AI-S mounted on a reversing ring--and set to work.



It ended up taking two days to get shots I was happy with. The little caterpillar was shy, and kept hiding its head in a defensive position. The chilly wind didn't help, nor did the heavy shade on that side of the house. I finally set up a strobe with a diffuser about 8 inches to the right, with a reflector to the left and after a good bit of waiting, captured some images I was happy with.

The thing I absolutely love about macro photography is that it opens up an entirely new world that we can't otherwise see. Look at the caterpillar's spines: You can actually see the tiny, venom-filled needles extending from the spines. And the hairy feet (caterpillars have hobbit feet? Who knew?). And the yellow spotting on its face, which simply looks like a uniform green to the naked eye. Photography is a window into another world, and I can hardly wait to look through it and discover new wonders!