Ants

Ants are perhaps one of the most resilient bugs on land.  They will fiercely protect their territory against invaders and very often they prey on other bugs and ants too.  In particular, the weaver ants display a very high level of teamwork, and some of them will readily sacrifice themselves for the safety of others.

I have taken a keen interest to photograph some of the common ants in Malaysia.  They make fantastic subjects to the patient photographer.

A mother ant protecting it's young babies.  Some of them are at differeny\t stages of development.

Another mother ant.  This ant will eventually shed its wings before laying eggs.

The following photos show excellent teamwork among the weaver ants as they come across a void area while transporting their egg/pupa.

Weaver ants are also fierce predators and will often encroach into other ants' territory for food.

My first post.

 It's a small world after all!

My experience with photography dates back to the 80's when I bought my first camera, a Minolta 700X with a 50mm 1.4F lens.  Back then, manual focus was the only way to shoot photos.  It was challenging with no room for mistakes.  Aperture setting & speed setting was a painful experience with many "misses" 

After a few years, I opted for fishing and kept my camera in the storeroom for several years until my interest was rekindled again with the onslaught of digital SLRs in the 2000's.  I bought my first digital SLR, a Canon 450D in 2008.  It was a joy!  You can afford to click away relentlessly without any concern for bad copies.  The magic word was "delete".  It was during this time that I took a strong interest in macro photography.  The excellent macro collection from all the masters and "sifu" has inspired me to pursue this wonderful genre in photography.  I have upgraded my camera to a Canon 7D in 2011.  My current arsenal is a humble 100mm macro lens, Voightlander 40mm 2.0F lens, Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens and a Tamron 17-50mm zoom lens.

This blog offers me an opportunity to express my "view" on those tiny creatures, bugs, flora etc.  I hope you will enjoy the photos that I have posted here.  I welcome any comments and suggsestions as I continue my macro journey for many years to come.

The picture above is one of my favourite shot of a jumper spider with it's "lunch".

A Mexican 'stand off' between a butterfly and a bug.

A large jumper admiring it's lunch.

A hooverfly resting. A classic pose.