Master Macro

Every month we join a top pro for a one-day masterclass. This issue, Chris George goes on location with top close-up photographer Ross Hoddinott in search of insects

It may be obvious, but insects are much easier to shoot when they are perfectly still – and this means shooting them at the right time of day. “I rely on natural refrigeration for most of my shots of butterflies and damselflies,” says Ross Hoddinott, “so I photograph them right at the end of the day or just after dawn, when it is cooler and they are resting.” Our plan, therefore, is to do two different shoots – one in the evening, and the next at first light the following morning – in two locations close to Ross’s home.

We start early afternoon, however, and head down the lanes on the Devon-Cornwall border to another of Ross’s favourite locations. In the middle of the day in the height of a warm summer, we’ll have to adopt a different approach, as the insects bask in the sun and fly around the reserve. It is 2 pm when we park up at Meeth Quarry.

Surprisingly, one of the first things Ross makes us do is to apply insect repellant – to ward off ticks as well as horseflies, which can give you nasty bites as you hunt out the butterflies and dragonflies we are looking for.

Ross knows these parts well. He has been photographing the local insects since he was a boy, when his family first moved to Cornwall. He took his first winning picture when he was just 11 in the BBC show Countryfile’s inaugural photo contest; it was of a pair of mating Hawk dragonflies, shot with a Zenith fitted with a 50mm standard lens and a close-up filter. He contributed to photo magazines from his teens, won Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year at 17, and effectively turned professional aged 18. He turned 40 in March this year.