Intimate portraits: A queen ant (Polyrhachis armata)

My arrival in Johannesburg has brought a welcome respite from the unbearable winter of New England, and tomorrow I fly to Gorongosa National Park to begin preparations for the official opening of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Laboratory on March 27th. Stay tuned for updates and photos!

But there is something else that I am very excited about. Last year I was invited by Alex Wild to teach an insect photography workshop in Belize, the famous BugShot, and this year we are doing it again. This time the workshop will take place on Sapelo Island in Georgia, a place I have never been to but always wanted to visit. Insect life is bound to be spectacular – among other things I expect to find there Brunneria borealis, North America’s largest praying mantis and the world’s only fully parthenogenetic species of these insects. There are webspinners (Embioptera) there, two species of sylvan katydids (Pseudophyllinae), and over 100 species of other orthopterans. This is going to be good.

High-speed macrophotography: Periodical cicada (Magicicada septendecim)

The workshop will take place on May 22-25 and there are still a few empty slots left. If you want to learn macrophotography, perfect your technique or learn a new one, or simply find out amazing facts about invertebrates, then you should join entomologists and photography experts Alex Wild, John Abbott, and myself on this fun adventure. Visit the BugShot website to find more details.

Wide-angle macro: Sylvan katydid (Celidophylla albiomacula)

Time lapse macrophotography: A molting katydid (Enyaliopsis petersi)

Ambient light macrophotography: Atlantic shield-back (Atlanticus testaceus)