Posts Tagged: insect wedding photography
Insect Wedding Photography: No Invitation Needed
One point about insect wedding photography is that you don't need an invitation to attend. You just have to keep your distance and not disturb the bridal couple. No sudden movements. No stressful impatience. And no camera flash, please. It helps, though, if you grow the host plant so a...
Insect wedding photography: Two Gulf Fritillaries, Agraulis vanillae, in a Vacaville, Calif. pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A caterpillar inches along the altar of the Gulf Fritillaries. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A prospective suitor is rejected. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, nectaring on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Fifty Shades of Orange--with a Touch of Silver
Fifty shades of orange—with a touch of silver. The bridal couple on the pomegranate tree wore orange and silver to celebrate their honeymoon. The bride may have blushed. I don't know. Did she? Don't all brides blush? The groom, in true form, looked quite dapper and dashing. So there...
A pair of Gulf Fritillaries on a pomegranate tree. Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, says she receives a number of calls about "two-headed butterflies." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Gulf Fritillary is an orangish-reddish butterfly with silver underwings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillaries keeping busy on a pomegranate tree. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Evolutionary success! Soon the female will lay eggs and the cycle of eggs-to-caterpillars-to-chrysalids-to-adults will begin again. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Insect Wedding Photography-- Or How a Tired Ol' Male Proved He Wasn't
You're heard these idioms: The early bird gets the worm First come, first served. Johnny-on-the-spot. The second mouse gets the cheese. But have you ever seen a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) eclose and then see her...well...engaged? Such was the case on Labor Day, Sept. 3 in our...
A newly eclosed female Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) hanging from her empty chrysalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A tired old male, his wings tattered and torn, is the first to arrive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The action at the "altar": the newly eclosed female Gulf Fritillary and the tired old male. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two Gulf Fritillary butterflies become one. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Insect Wedding Photography: When Three's a Crowd
So there they were, the bride and groom, culminating their vows. We spotted them in Vacaville, Calif., clinging to a passion flower vine (Passiflora), their host plant--just the two of them, the female Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) and the male. Two's company? Not for long. Soon other Gulf...
Insect wedding photography on the passion flower vine: male and female Gulf Fritillaries, Agraulis vanillae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
When two's company and three's a crowd: a male Gulf Fritillary zeroes in on the mating pair. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Three is still a crowd. The two Gulf Frits have an univited guest. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Three Gulf Fritillaries: two males and a female. One is an uninvited guest. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Insect Wedding Photography in a Rose Garden
"I do! I do! I do!" Some of us engage in wedding photography. Not with humans. With insects. All you need is a bride, a groom and a…hmm…bedroom. That could be a leafy green bedroom in the rose garden where the lady beetles, aka ladybugs, are. Most of the time they're in the...
Love in the rose garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bridal couple heads for some privacy. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Don't let a thorn get in your way. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The view is better over here. I think I see an aphid. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Just need a pillow of rose petals for the night. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey. All images taken with a Nikon D800 and a macro lens, 105mm)