Writing with Light

I've always loved the wit and wisdom of insect-inspired poets.

God in His wisdom made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why.
- - Ogden Nash "The Fly"

We hope that, when the insects take over the world, they will remember with gratitude how we took them along on all our picnics.
- - Richard Vaughan

If you look at the world through a viewfinder--as I have a habit of doing--it’s a wonderful, exquisite place, especially if you capture critters in their natural habitat. They don’t complain when you make them look fat, skinny, nice or ferocious.

Blow flies, honey bees, carpenter bees, spotted cucumber bees, the ten-lined June beetle, and mosquitoes all appear in my viewfinder. Okay, I know. We’re not supposed to like some of these pests (such as the carpenter bees, spotted cucumber bees and the ten-lined June beetles), but hey, all of them are pretty enough to sing the national anthem at the Olympics.

Photography, or writing with light, is just that. Writing with light. Back before the digital technology age, we used to process film, make prints and then hang them out to dry. We "pho-togs" marinated ourselves in Dektol, DK-60 and Hypo.

Our "pheromone" wasn't always appreciated. But the images were.

Bees are black, with gilt surcingles,
Buccaneers of buzz.
- - Emily Dickinson

The mosquito is the state bird of New Jersey.
- - Andy Warhol