
Wednesday May 31st, 2006 through Saturday July 1st, 2006
Michael Durham’s 1/45,000 series is one-third science with the remaining two-thirds nature and beauty.
Durham uses a laser triggered high-speed camera to photograph a variety of winged insects doing what their bodies are designed to do; fly. The subjects look surreal, almost fake in their stillness. Each insect is photographed to show its natural elegance. “I find their unfurled forms equally beautiful and mysterious”, Durham confesses.
Engineers and scientists helped Michael build the custom camera system that he used to make the images. While the process is interesting the results are even more fascinating for Durham.
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A blue-eyed darner (Rhionaeschna multicolor)in flight in the coastal mountains of Oregon.
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Bumble bees (Bombus sp. [possibly Bombus vegans]) nectar on flowers near the Metolius River in Central Oregon. Deschutes National Forest. Note the tattered wing on the flying adult indicates an older bee.
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A tiny leafcutter bee (Genus: Megachile) departs a goldenrod flower (Solidago sp.) after collecting nectar and pollen.
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A leafcutter bee (Genus: Megachile) departs a goldenrod flower (Solidago sp.) after collecting nectar and pollen.
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paper wasp in flight
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A paper wasp in flight. Western Oregon
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Bluet damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) photographed in the coastal mountains of Oregon.
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a miniature moth took his own photograph when it flew through the high-speed camera trigger on a warm night in the coastal mountains of Oregon.
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A plume moth (Gillmeria pallidactyla) flying on a warm summer night. Coastal mountains of Oregon.
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A Green Bottle Fly (Calliphora sp.) , a memeber of the blow fly family, photographed in 1/45,000 of a second in Western Oregon.
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A golden stonefly (Hesperoperla pacifica) in flight near the bank of the Metolius River. Deschutes National Forest, Oregon.
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A worker honey bee (Apis mellifera) collects nectar from red clover flowers (Trifolium pratense). Note the pollen baskets on the legs. Northwest Oregon..
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flesh flies laying eggs in the pelage of a dead townsend’s mole.
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A cranefly (Tipula sp.) flying at night. Temperate coastal rainforest, Oregon.
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A common blue darner (Aeshna sp) in flight near a pond in temperate rain forest, Oregon coastal mountains. Please note: this image has been digitally altered. The top left wing tip was bent in the original, and straightened digitally.
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A male eight-spotted skimmer dragonfly (Libellula forensis) in flight, photographed with a high-speed camera system in the coastal mountains of Oregon, near Florence.
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A male eight-spotted skimmer dragonfly (Libellula forensis) in flight, photographed with a high-speed camera system in the coastal mountains of Oregon, near Florence.
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an adult female two-striped grasshopper (melanoplus bivittatus) jumping. Dechutes National Forest, Oregon.
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Khasiana Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes khasiana) attracting night moth. This endangered plant is native to the Khasi Hills of India. This specimen was cultivated. July 2001
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An ochre ringlet butterfly (Coenonympha tullia) winging its way through flowers on Zumwalt Prairie. Spring 2002 The Nature Conservancy’s Zumwalt Prairie Preserve is one of the largest preserved examples of bunchgrass prairie habitat found in North America.