Holy Macro!

Through his camera lens, Russ Hayes of Sherbrooke, Que., captures a fascinating, hidden world

You don’t have to travel outside of Canada to encounter some exotic and unusual-looking insects. They are right here in our own backyards. I believe that the majority of Canadians are unaware of the hundreds of varieties of insects that are alive and thriving all around them. Yes, they see common flies, bees, wasps, mosquitoes, ants and spiders, but if they were to take a closer look, they would be very surprised by what is lurking in their backyards and gardens.

I purchased a macro lens for my camera in 2014 that allows me to capture extreme close-ups of my subjects. Purchasing this piece of equipment instantly changed my world of photography. It opened up a whole new perspective on insects, and even ordinary objects, that surround us in our everyday life, but remain relatively unseen by most eyes. Ordinary items such as raindrops on a clothesline, spiderwebs and small feathers become extraordinary under a macro lens. It takes a very steady hand, or a tripod, to manually focus on the subject with this lens. You can use auto focus, but when you are ten to 20 centimetres away from a subject, the focus area is quite exacting. As with a human subject, I try to be sure that the insect’s eyes are primarily in focus. This gets a little tricky, as you don’t want to scare away the insect while getting closer. I don’t tend to feel fear while trying to capture a close-up shot of a wasp, for example, as I am so focused on getting the picture. I also believe they are mesmerized by the clicking noise of the shutter.