Voyages inside Portugal

The beauty of small things: a voyage into a garden’s microcosm

Posted on by Jules & Verne
Reading time 8 minutes

“The more we travel, the bigger the world gets”. Over the last couple of years we have taken advantage of our somewhat vague motto to talk about many different things. Christened during our round-the-world trip, it originally stemmed from our observation that no time in the world would be enough to visit all places worth visiting. After we came back, we realised this to be true even for our own country. Abandoning all hopes of closure, we expanded our definition of travelling to encompass other things we love: time-travelling to long-past history, mind-travelling on the comforts of solitude, soul-travelling with the wonders of friendship. All those wanderings however involved some degree of physical travelling. Not today. Today we won’t go beyond Jules’ parents backyard, in Ponte de Sor.

Over the course of countless weekends, I made a habit of sneaking into Jules’ parents garden to take pictures. Hunching over flowers and chasing out bugs, I discovered a whole new world. As I got closer and closer to my subjects, I uncovered layer after layer of that fascinating microcosm, like a never ending matryoshka doll. There is, quite literally, beauty in the small things.

A size comparison of the photographed insects, from the apparently huge dragonfly to the positively tiny pollen beetle

To see a larger version of any one of these images, click on them and select the ‘View full size’ option at the bottom.

Dragonflies were the first to catch my eye. Colourful and exuberant, they’re nature’s equivalent to an Italian sports car. They are also quite lenient to clumsy photographers, posing completely still for enough time for me to get close, fumble with camera settings and finally take the shot.

Two dragonflies (135mm @ 0.3x magnification, f6.4, 1/350s, ISO 200)
Dragonfly (123mm @ 0.2x magnification, f11, 1/180s, ISO 250)

Their confidence probably stems  from the fact they’re extraordinary flyers. The compound eyes – the largest of all insects – wrap around the head, allowing them to see in all directions. They are also able to fly in all six directions with the agility of a nimble helicopter. Once set after a prey, there’s little it can do to escape. Unlike a lion, that will mimic the zigzagging of a desperate gazelle, a dragonfly can predict the flight path of an escaping butterfly. Nineteen out of twenty times, the poor insect doesn’t even know what hit it.

Two dragonflies mating (123mm @ 0.2x magnification, f11, 1/180s, ISO 320)
Dragonfly mating (135mm @ 0.3x magnification, f5.6, 1/340s, ISO 200)

Still amidst the swarms of dragonflies, I shifted my attention to the wasps and bees buzzing around flowers. They were jittery and harder to photograph, but would leave me be as long as I didn’t get in the way of their nectar and pollen collection frenzy. Bees seemed particularly determined in hoarding as much pollen as possible, and would hover tirelessly from flower to flower until their hind legs couldn’t carry any more pollen.

Wasp (135mm @ 0.3x magnification, f6.4, 1/350s, ISO 200)
Bee collecting pollen from an oxeye daisy (100mm, ring light, f11, 1/250s, ISO 200)

Even the tiniest of flowers would hide a profusion of life. The daisies were not much larger than a fly but, hidden within a scale that’s barely visible to the naked eye, they fed a profusion of minuscule insects. The daisies themselves are far more complex than they seem: what we perceive as a single daisy – a bright yellow yolk surrounded by thin white petals – is actually a collective of hundreds of minute individual flowers.

Field of oxeye daisies (116mm, f5.6, 1/240s, ISO 200)
Tachinid fly on oxeye daisy (100mm, ring light, f11, 1/250s, ISO 500)

On its own, macro photography is already a peculiarly nerdy subject, as it involves lenses mounted the wrong way round and flashes made out of cans of Pringles. However, attempting to classify the photographed subjects added a whole new layer of geekiness to it.

Thrips on oxeye daisy (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)
Pollen beetle hiding beneath an oxeye daisy (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)

When my fingers got too cold to operate the shutter, I would take refuge next to the fireplace. With a hot chocolate on one hand and a mouse on the other, I would plunge into the internet looking for answers. Fortunately, these days one can easily find the work of those far more knowledgeable.

Field marigolds (35mm, f2, 1/5800s, ISO 200)
Unknown insect hiding inside a field marigold (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)

After some sugar fueled research, I concluded with a hesitant level of certainty that I had encountered a long tongue tachinid fly, a few thrips and a pollen beetle sitting on oxeye daisies; an unknown tiny insect hiding inside a field marigold; and a cape daisy apparently free from any sort of bug.

Cape daisy (116mm, f5.6, 1/300s, ISO 200)
Cape daisy flowerhead, showing the many individual flowers (100mm, ring light, f11, 1/180s, ISO 3200)

If it was still cold outside, I wouldn’t venture past the porch’s potted plants. Fortunately, succulent plants only seem coarse and stocky at a first glance. A closer look will reveal a multitude of delicate symmetries and infinitesimal detail.

Succulent plant (35mm with 11mm extension tube @ 0.4x magnification, diffused flash, f8, 1/75s, ISO 200)
Succulent plant (35mm with 11mm extension tube @ 0.4x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/75s, ISO 200)

The garden looked vastly different throughout the year. During the summer months, the big weeping willow provided shade during the day and then framed stargazing once the sun set. In wintertime, devoid of any leafs, its thin naked branches patiently waited for the rain to go away and the sun to return.

Weeping willow tree at night (16mm, f1.4, 20s, ISO 1250)
Morning dew on weeping willow branch (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)
Bud (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)

Even within a single day, the garden would change dramatically. Early morning, still with my pajamas on, I would go out to see the dew that had settled during the night. Hunched over the ground and with the camera a few millimetres away from the plants, each tiny droplet of water seemed enormous, reflecting the wider world around it.

Morning dew (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)
Morning dew (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)
Morning dew (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)

At this scale, colours are exuberant. Greens, pinks and purples have an almost garish intensity that we’re only used to seeing as a speckle against a more subdued backdrop.

Morning dew (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)
Morning dew (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)
The same flower later in the morning (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)

At the smallest scale I could access, the backdrop would turn completely black, drowned by the flash light, but the plants would get even more exuberant.

A small winter flower (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)
A small winter flower (reversed 28mm @ 1.2x magnification, diffused flash, f16, 1/125s, ISO 200)

One night I went back to the garden. While waiting for the lunar eclipse, I looked around my feet, knowing how fascinating was the microcosm lurking beneath the penumbra.

Full moon shortly before the penumbral lunar eclipse (200mm, f5.6, 1/10s, ISO 200)

Verne*

259 thoughts on “The beauty of small things: a voyage into a garden’s microcosm”

  2. This piece is excellent! So captivating, educating- so detailed. I have learned so much about dragonflies and daisies just by coming by this post! Thanks author for posting. We learn everyday. As for bees- what can say, hard work pays. No wonder they hoard their honey. Lol

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  3. I have found that those who travel extensively are not always more knowledgeable or more kind that those who never leave their backyard. These wonderful photos are so enlivening! It’s marvelous to remind us to take a closer look, whether in our yard or beyond!
    I never get it that people say the world is small. It’s not! Even a garden patch can be a really large space for the soul who takes the time to see it. Lovely!

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  7. I can’t agree more with some of these comments! This is exactly what I love doing as well, and seeing these images, and visiting this tiny world you show us is a great experience!

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  22. Your story is fun to read and your “macro” photographs are awesome. I know for sure from personal experiences that many of them were difficult to take. Exemplary efforts! You must be an expert in holding your breath now.

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    1. Thank you! Macro photography can indeed be very frustrating: most of these photos took many many (many!) takes to get the focus and lightning right. But it is also very rewarding to look at the results and discover things that are invisible to the naked eye -Verne

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  27. Lovely respite! The timing of my stumbling upon this could not have been more perfect; so glad I was lead here.

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  32. I love your images, I have always liked dragonfly’s, and bees. Everything is just beautiful. I also like how you mentioned so many ways to travel.

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      1. Some of them were taken with a proper macro lens I borrowed, but the majority were taken with a couple of old manual lenses. By reversing them or mounting them on extension tubes, I could get very close to the flowers and the bugs -Verne

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  41. Such beautiful photos! I really enjoyed this post. One certainly doesn’t need to go far to find astonishing beauty in everyday places. There are hidden worlds all around us! I do illustrations of microscopic life in soil and I’m always using neutral tones; I wish those images could be as vibrant and colourful as these! Looking forward to seeing more of your work 🙂

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  46. Those are so beautiful!!!!!! For normal eyes these never exist. Only those craving adventurous eyes can capture the unbelievable nature’s beauty.. You got an amazing talent..

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  49. Nature is so underestimated sometimes, it’s so disappointing.

    Thank you for the beautiful shots !! My 6 year old son enjoyed looking at them over my shoulder whilst I read ❤

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