Central NJ lensman specializing in nature imagery heavily biased toward closeup and macro of flowers & small animals, insects & arachnids. Bees in-flight is my specialty.
Why spend time here?
I live in central New Jersey where I spend time (when I have time) out and about with my cameras—afield—(thus my trademark shooting/writing monikers: LensAfield/Len’s Afield), finding, photographing, and writing about life in natural worlds going on all around us, that we don’t really see or think about, either because they are not in plain sight, their scale, or we simply never knew existed.
The word “nature” probably conjures images of mountains with rivers or streams, or lush jungles or savannahs featuring exotic plants, birds, and wild animals; perhaps a walk in the woods, or touring the botanical garden. So it’s not likely you were thinking about what’s going on in your yard or garden, or in that shrub by the front door.
Nature is not a thing you can hold in your hand. It is not a place to visit. It is a process that happens everywhere, all the time, whether or not we see or know about it—even in that shrub.
A picture of a natural subject captures a mere moment, missing the context of how that moment came to be, in that environment, at that time, and so is easily misunderstood or unappreciated. That is why I strive to produce my photography as serial stories, often as a timeline, seasonal, or lifecycle study.
This project is not specifically about the photography. It is not primarily about showing pictures of cute animals and pretty plants. Often, what is presented is quite the opposite. I use my photos to provide context and illustrate stories and studies about life which we are only vaguely aware, that will bring you up-close-and-personal to less obvious—often “invisible”—miniature natural worlds and microcosms all around us, all the time. To show things we see but often never really see.
Out-of-sight should not mean out-of-mind. While it might not be obvious, the countless dramas in tiny worlds all around us are connected to us.
I produced an introductory video several years ago here showing a sampling of what I shoot (reduce it to its smallest size for best quality).
