Follow the Leader
by
DrAchooComment by kenskid: I don't think I could purposly kill an insect to take a picture of it. I just doesn't seem right. I know they're just bugs and we kill ants and roaches every day, I think we must draw the line at killing for the sake of a photo.
I remember something when I was a little kid...maybe about 8 years old. I caught one of those big grasshoppers with the red wings. I kept him in a glass aquarium for a few days and sprayed water on him and put fresh grass and flowers in each day.
One day I took him out and put him in a can so I could walk around the neighborhood with him. Some teenagers saw me and asked what I had. I showed them. They had fire crackers and they asked if they could blow him up. I meekly gave them the can...they dropped firecrackers in and killed him.
Later that day my mom asked, "where is your grasshopper?" Not thinking I did anything wrong, I said, "I let some kids blow him up".
My mom gave me a good talking to about animals and why/when we should kill or not kill them. I was punished for a week.
I ended up going to college and earned a BS in Biology. I took many many classes on animals, insects and animal behavior.
Life is not there for us to kill for our pleasure.
In my portfolio you can see a shot of a honeybee I took one night. He was in some kind of stress. He had something on his face he was trying to clean off. He was going to die. I didn't move him but I went and got my cam and took several decent shots of this guy. I used extension tubes, and several different flash settings. Since he was not moving much, I was able to set some white paper in back of him for reflection.
Although the shots came out only "ok", his "sickly" state allowed me to refine my skills. So his death actually contributed to the science of photography as well as the art of photography. All this without the killing of the animal by the scientist/artist.
I left the bee there for nature to take it's course. With many geckos and lizards around, I'm sure it wasn't long before he was out of his misery and dinner for the stronger.
My mom, armed with only an 8th grade education taught me something I carry to this day, 35 years later and nearly ten years after her death.
Now, your photo is nice and I see many different comments. While I don't dare condem you for the killing, I'd rather see photos in the future of true life.
Good job on your ribbons this year. You are a very good photographer.
Photographer found comment helpful.
