I've been learning to take wildlife photos as a hobby for 20 years. I finally decided to curate my photos to share both as images I'm proud of and as pictures of a world we often miss or ignore.
I think of many of the photos here as "wildlife street photography"--the subjects captured as they go about their everyday activities. Some may even be more like "glamour shots" of underappreciated critters--the closer you look, the more interesting these living things become, and I would like people to see them as beautiful treasures.
"Wild open" is a pun on the photo term "wide open," referring to shooting at very large apertures (with smaller f-stop numbers) where the lens is open to its widest positions, letting in the most light. The result can be "cinematic" with the subject in clear detail and the surroundings blurred. Some of the highlights may appear as "bubbles" (called bokeh) reflecting the shape of the aperture, depending on the number of blades the lens has to form its opening. It also means there is a "shallow depth of field"--only a slice of the image is in focus, depending on what the camera was focusing on and how deep the focus was.
I hope you will want to learn more about the subjects, with an emphasis on pollinators. See Learn More About Pollinators for web resources.
I am not an expert, and I welcome any comments or information on the correct name or species of any critter or plant in the photos.
I would also like to know if you might be interested in me making items like a calendar or prints. Many of my photos are from different gardens at the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing, or at the Kensington Metropark, near Milford, MI, and I would like to support them. Let me know on the Contact page.
Thanks for visiting!
C.A. Mullhaupt
Enlarging the photos:
Most photos in the galleries (listed under the Portfolio menu or on the Portfolio Galleries page) will allow you to "zoom in" and enlarge.
On the desktop (and iPad/tablet) version, you can click the "Open Full Screen" icon in the upper left corner of the window once you've the photo in the enlarged view.
On the mobile/iPhone version, you won't see the "Open Full Screen" icon, but you can use two fingers to "spread" to "zoom in" and enlarge or "pinch" to "zoom out" and reduce.