Today is the last day of 2019 and that’s always a good moment to look back at the last 12 months. It has been a very good year for the Development project, with lots of new series and highlights such as a great exhibition in the Rotterdam Museum of Natural History and the Cultuurprijs 2019 (award for Cultural projects) of the Gemeente Zuidplas (the town I live in). For the new year that’s about to start, 2020, there are already some big plans. Read more
Sometimes Mother Nature helps with Development; this week I’ve been able to finish the series of the Small White. This time I didn’t receive a kit with eggs, caterpillars and pupae, as with the Large White; the Small White butterflies decided to use the cabbage plants in my garden to lay their eggs themselves. Read more
Large White with deformed wings
The last couple of weeks, I learned a valuable lesson, while taking care of the Large White caterpillars; it’s not very easy to determine if vegetables are really organic and pesticide free. In fact; even organic products can be a big risk for insects like caterpillars. Something that really worries me. Read more
Caterpillar close-up
Yes! The series of the Large White butterfly is finished. It was very interesting to follow their development, but I’m also somehow happy it’s done. Taking care of caterpillars and documenting their growth turned out to be more difficult than I expected. Read more
Large White eggs
The animal species I’ve photography so far for Development were either classic pets or species that are not native to the Netherlands. The difficulty with our ‘own’ animals, is that many of them are protected by law and you are not allowed keep them in captivity. Fortunately, I found a native species that I can photograph for my project; a Great white butterfly. Read more
A while ago, I´ve written a blog about the Giant prickly stick insect eggs I´ve bought. What looked easy – you buy some eggs online, wait until they hatch and take pictures of the little animal – turned out to be a bigger challenge than I thought. First of all, you can’t take for granted that if you buy eggs they will actually hatch and if you finally have a baby stick insect to photograph, it turns out to be a lot less calm as its name suggests. Read more
This week, after a few weeks summer break, I could finally start with a new series for Development. This is the first reptile species, Hermann’s tortoise. It’s also a new chapter in growth rate. Where for example Canary’s grow very quickly and the challenge is to not miss out on any important stages of their development, tortoises are the opposite; they are very slow growers and it takes several years for them to reach their final size. Read more
I’m always looking for new species to photograph for Development. Sometimes I go to a breeder to do the photo shoot on location, but it can also be more convenient to breed a species myself. That way, it’s easier to combine the project with other commercial assignments. A while ago, I found an ad on the internet for eggs of a species I’ve never heard of; tropical Triops. Today, I’m the proud owner of a complete Triops breeding set. I’m hoping that in the next few weeks I’ll be able to start breeding these peculiar animals. Read more
Lately, I’ve been working on photographing and selecting as many different animals as possible. I started with mammals and have already added fish, bird and a snail species to the project. I hope that I can add a reptile and amphibian species as well soon. But I would also like to document the growth and development of an insect. I already did some research on little creatures in my garden and even started with some ladybug eggs, but my attempt to raise them, failed. Primarily, because their food, louse, would walk right out of their enclosure through the ventilation holes. Hopefully my next attempt with the Giant prickly stick insect will be more successful. Read more
Last week, I’ve been able to finish another series for Development; the growth of a baby canary into a real bird. It’s hard to imagine, but at only three weeks old, these little guys already look just like an adult bird and it’s hard to tell who are the parents and who are the chicks. It’s really remarkable how fast they grow. To make sure I could capture every phase of their development, I had to adjust my schedule and plan a photo session every three days. Read more