Insights

Large-format prints at eye level with the visitors.

National Geographic selected its 23 favourite science photos of 2021 – including the little cuckoo wasp.

After being selected for the top 100 of Nikon Small World, the little cuckoo wasp travelled around the globe within just a few days.

High-resolution pigment prints on 100% cotton paper meet Robert Balke’s drawing machines. These one-of-a-kind pieces can be ordered in the shop at robertbalke.de.

Mark and I launched the MAKROTALK podcast. Mark wanted to work more in the studio, I wanted to shoot more macro outdoors – so it made sense to talk about it and record our conversations. That was the idea. But why not broaden it and cover the whole range of macro photography? And since there was no German-language macro podcast yet … bang, here it is!

We hope to offer you information and entertainment. You can find and listen to it on the usual streaming platforms or directly on Libsyn at makrotalk.libsyn.com. You can also find us on Instagram at instagram.com/makrotalk, with news about the podcast.

Most people know the famous death’s-head hawk-moth from above – hardly surprising given the markings on its back. But the underside is well worth a look, too.

First attempt with the 40:1 objective combined with flash. The image shows the wing scales and veins of a painted lady and a single sunflower pollen grain.

A change in my lighting technique produces even sharper images at 20:1.

Insects need space! And not only in meadows and forests. They also need room in our minds and in our perception. Awareness is often limited to the popular butterflies and bees. But with almost a million described insect species, there is so much more to be fascinated by. partnersinpaint.de and the city of Ulm realised this wonderful project in Neu-Ulm / Friedrichsau using my images.

The insects were given space: portraits of native species, each 4×4 m. For the templates, 682 single images were taken and combined using focus stacking. 30 litres of wall paint, 150 spray cans, 40 different colours and 30 hours of work went into the project – not to forget the incredible passion every participant brought to make something like this happen.

You don’t even have to look closely to see, even from a distance, that this insect is a flying jewel. Yet at 20× magnification the nimble little cuckoo wasp reveals even more breathtaking colours and structures than you could ever imagine.

In truth, we live on a planet of insects. They were the first living creatures to take to the air. They have populated our Earth for more than 400 million years and will probably do so until its end. With more than a million described species, insects make up over 80 per cent of all animal species. Around a quintillion insects live on Earth – 143 million times more than humans. Around 90 per cent of the terrestrial animal biomass consists of insects. Ants alone outweigh all humans combined. They are the busy service providers of our ecosystem; without them it would no longer function. They prepare our soil, act as our waste disposal and are indispensable for pollinating most plants. They are a kind of life insurance for us, and we should be endlessly grateful to them – grateful, too, that we may share “their” planet with them.

Yet they do not receive the respect and esteem they deserve. We kill them with poisons, shred their habitats and swat them with the newspaper at the breakfast table. To shed more light on this deplorable state of affairs, I teamed up with the conservationist and musician Dominik Eulberg. Elaborate focus and 3D stacking make visible what was previously hidden. Over three years, 35,088 single images became a fascinating video. The aim: to portray native insects the way we portray people – as individuals.

Looking at the images corrects our “distorted” view, because suddenly we are looking graceful creatures in the face, eye to eye. We see details, colours, shapes and structures that cannot be seen with the naked eye. A previously hidden treasure chamber full of shining jewels opens up before us. Former disgust and aversion give way to childlike wonder. This change of perspective flips an inner switch. We understand again that we share a deep connection with all living beings: we are all linked in one great ecosystem and all share a common origin.

We begin to grasp once more that everything that goes against nature ultimately goes against us humans. Every living being has its purpose and its place in nature; each is an important cog in an ecosystem whose services we use every day. If we continue to ignore this in our anthropocentric hubris, humanity itself – as Homo suicidalis – risks becoming a mayfly. May this sparkling plea from the insects wake up as many people as possible.

By the way: this video is an officially “recognised contribution to the UN Decade on Biodiversity”.

The insect shirts are available in my T-shirt shop on Spreadshirt.

I like to ask children whether you are allowed to touch butterflies, and the unanimous answer is always: “NO!”

So far, so good. When I then ask why, the answer is often: “Because then they die.” That’s when I like to explain:

What we perceive on our fingers as “butterfly dust” are in fact tiny scales. They are filled with air and help the butterfly with lift, but they also give it its colour and pattern. Over the course of its life a butterfly loses more and more of these scales, and its wings can even become partly transparent. The fewer scales it has, the harder it is to fly. Once the effort of flying exceeds the energy it gets from flower nectar, it dies of exhaustion.

So a butterfly does not die simply because someone picks it up – that’s nonsense. But be aware that by rubbing off its scales you are probably shortening its life. A butterfly can also die early while it still has all its scales – because of parasites, or simply because it has mated and its life cycle is complete. Touching it won’t kill it, but you still shouldn’t do it.

The flyers for my exhibition – click to enlarge.

My large-format prints were on display in Besigheim from 7 May to 2 June, supported by BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany) and the cultural association Wartesaal – many thanks for your support.

At universities, species identification has lost importance in degree courses, and young taxonomists are in short supply. An interesting report by Marco Krefting featuring my photo series: Spiegel.de (in German).