12 Astonishing Macro Photos of Water Droplets
April 17, 2016
12 ASTONISHING MACRO PHOTOS
OF WATER DROPLETS
Photos by Martin van den Akker/ Interview by Meghan J. Ward
Macro photography by Martin van den Akker of Inspirit Photography.
MW/ Tell us a bit about yourself.
MVDA/ I moved from flat Holland to the pointy Rockies some 15 years ago. I like diversity and my careers usually changes every three or four years. After a break from work due to health concerns, I am currently working part-time at Benjamin Moore in Canmore, selling home renovation products. I suspect my career and creative pursuits will see a few more changes in years to come.
MW/ What draws you to this type of photography?
MVDA/ I enjoy taking the time to capture small details in nature that often get missed. I really like landscape photography, too. However, with many great landscape photographers being attracted to this area, I wanted to pursue something that felt unique to me. While I didn’t invent waterdrop photography, it’s been a fascinating process of exploration. You can really discover a whole world in a single water drop.
Click on any photo to start the slideshow.
MW/ What are the challenges of shooting water droplets like this and composing these types of images?
MVDA/ Weather conditions have to be near perfect. At two or three times magnification, the slightest breeze will sway a tiny droplet out of the camera’s viewfinder. Round droplets also reflect everything in a 360-degree radius, including the photographer himself. And rain or dew drops evaporate surprisingly fast once the sun comes out. I have pulled my hairs out on a few occasions.
MW/ What does “zooming in” teach you about the natural world?
MVDA/ Nature is a teacher on so many levels – about change, complexity, connectivity. While I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking every possible nature photo has been taken and shared a thousand times over, macro photography really reminds me that there is so much about nature and life that we still haven’t discovered.
Martin van den Akker is a part-time nature photographer living in Canmore. His photography website and blog can be found at inspirit.ca.
