Micro Fauna of the Desert – A Teaching Moment Photographic Workshop

On Saturday May 5, 2018 join me for “Micro Fauna of the Desert – A Teaching Moment Photographic Workshop” What is a Teaching Moment Photographic Workshop? They are a series of inexpensive, half day workshops that give back to the participants! Just how will they give back? For every 5 Teaching Moment Photographic Workshops that a participant attends they will receive a $50 (Canadian currency) voucher redeemable on a future workshop of their choice.

This workshop will run from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The cost of this event is $125 plus HST, which includes admission to the Reptilia Zoo.

During Micro Fauna of the Desert we will cover the fundamentals of working with flash to capture incredible imagery of these fascinating, nocturnal animals. We will also incorporate some creative options for these critters such as white backdrops and mirrors. We will photograph scorpions under ultraviolet lighting – did you know they glow under such illumination! We will photograph  several species of tarantulas as well as two incredibly colourful  lizards – the Tokay Gecko and the Leopard Gecko. Time permitting we may be able to include a Madagascar Day Gecko too!

These various species will be photographed under controlled conditions using natural, table top set-ups, for approximately two hours. Afterwards we will explore the displays in the Reptilia Zoo and have opportunities to photograph many species of venomous snakes through the safety of their glass enclosures. Although the workshop will concluded at 12:00 p.m. participants are permitted to spend the remainder of the day exploring the displays within the Reptilia Zoo.

The recommended gear for this Teaching Moment Photographic Workshop is a macro lens and flash. Ideally a flash bracket to get the flash off camera will work best but is not mandatory. I have devised various options for working with camera mounted flash for macro work. If you do not own a macro lens you could always rent one for the day from either Henry’s or Vistek. Alternately, using a high quality close-up filter on a telephoto lens is another option to make such lenses focus close enough. If you are uncertain whether your lenses will be suitable for this event please do inquire so that I can provide you with the best advice and solution. A tripod will be required to photograph the scorpions under ultraviolet lighting.

To register your self for this Teaching Moment Photographic Workshop please contact me by clicking here. Payment can be made by email transfer or by cheque made payable to Andrew McLachlan.

Cancellation Policy: no refunds 30 days prior to the workshop date.

Hope to see you there 🙂

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Sister Islands Curly Tailed Lizard

This post will take us back to my February trip to Cayman Brac in the Cayman Islands. The two smaller, of the three islands, in the Cayman Islands  are called Little Cayman and Cayman Brac and are often referred to as the Sister Islands. On the grounds at the villa that I had rented for my two week stay there were numerous lizards to be found. The most common was the Curly-tailed Lizard. These lizards reach a length of about 10 inches, from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail. During the afternoon they were difficult to approach, but early in the morning was a completely different story. Reptiles are often easier to photograph early in the day when they are too cool to really run away. Being cold-blooded critters they need to warm up in the sun before becoming active. Each of the Curly-tailed Lizards in today’s blog post were photographed at daybreak, using the Live View feature of the Nikon D800, while zooming in on the eyes to manually fine tune the focusing of my Nikon 80-400mm VR lens. The camera and lens were supported by a Manfrotto BeFree Tripod. To read my review of this perfect travel companion and how well it is designed for such use please click here.

Please click on each of the images to see the larger, sharper versions.

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