Presentation on moths
SILEBY Photographic Society
met via Zoom on Monday, January 11, when Steve Myall EFIAP, BPE4, made a return visit, this time to show to us his own presentation “Moths”.
Steve explained that he had had an interest in moths right from childhood and this then naturally progressed into photographing them, but always for his own pleasure and not for competition purposes.
The talk was therefore aimed at the amateur, with over 2,500 species of moth in this country there is always year round interest, even in brown moths which have many interesting patterns. Steve surprised us with his images of many colourful moths, and his explanation of moths and butterflies and micro and macro types. Many people think that moths are to be found only at night, but there are moths around in the day light. “Lattice Heath”, “Chimney Sweeper” were some of the variety photographed often collected and taken home to photograph and then carefully released. Really unusual moths such as “yellow barred long horn” with the longest antennae in England (6x its body length) “yellow shell” stunningly beautiful.
To find moths one can leave an outside light on to attract them, or buy or make a trap with a light box. But very often Steve has been told where there is a moth to be seen, by people who know he likes them! More than once Steve has found a moth and successfully reared the eggs they have produced and made sure they have gone to good homes to thrive from caterpillar into moth! This has taken time and effort but worth it for conservation purposes.
“Night Hawk Moth” and “Elephant Hawk Moth” might be familiar to us, but others like “Frosted Orange”, “Yellow Underwing”, “Gold Triangle” and one of the biggest moths “Old Lady” are not so familiar and Steve had captured their images beautifully. There were of course many more moths too numerous to mention that Steve had photographed, carefully placing them with a small artist’s brush on a chosen background taken from his collection of different barks and tree stumps!
Part two of Steve’s presentation involved the more technical side of things and what equipment he had used and the positioning of it. The use of a conservatory was a must for him, along with a tripod to keep the camera steady as most images were taken with manual focus. Backgrounds were important to bring out the beauty of the moth, but sometimes more fun to use a background to show off the camouflage ability of the moth to avoid predators.
“Buff Ermine” was one of the most stunning images shown with its feather quill like antennae, two favourites of Steve’s are the stunning “Gold Spot” and “Blood Vein”. A lovely pair of “Sallow Kittens” were photographed facing each other seemingly holding hands, which was so beautiful.
Steve explained that along with native breeds that are travelling further north, foreign varieties could now be found and Steve likes to record what he finds to a dedicated website “iRecord” for conservational purposes.
A short question and answer session followed and SPS President John Hoogerwerf thanked Steve for giving us an insight into his extensive knowledge and understanding of his subject.
The next Zoom meeting will be held on Monday, January 25, when guest lecturer, David Keep, ARPS, DPAGB, ABPE, AFIAP, will present ‘A Project-Based Approach to Photography’.
Anyone wishing to become a member of Sileby Photographic Society, enabling access to the weekly Zoom meetings, should visit the contact page of the SPS website, when further details will be issued.
The programme for the current photographic year is also available to view.