This ‘story’ for Our Norfolk is all about image. Click on each one to elevate them above the text and let them take centre stage.  Hover over with cursor to read species and Latin name.

We all know our County is full of fascinating creatures; seals, birds, mammals, insects – INSECTS? Think small in nature, big on detail – macro Norfolk images, life revealed through a lens. Woodland, fields, trees, our own gardens; a whole slice of Norfolk life is existing quite literally under our feets, for the most part un-noticed by us. Once curious local photographer, Julie Coe, got up close and personal to a hoverfly. Its intricate wing patterns revealed themselves and she has been in her garden on her hands and  knees or squashed into hedges to get ‘that shot’ ever since!

“August is the perfect time to try macro shots of easy to spot insects; butterflies, bees, flies. Look in your plants, shrubs, weeds, lawn.  You’ll soon start to notice insects you have never seen before. Capturing insect photos can be as easy/hard expensive/inexpensive as you want. I started out with a point and shoot camera with a macro-setting facility. All these story images are taken with my non-dsl camera with a clip-on macro-conversion Raynox lens (approx. £30-£40 at the time). All my insect images are taken in my own garden.  As autumn and winter approaches, there are still opportunities to explore – under old wood, patio tubs, ladybird colonies overwintering in conifer trees. The one thing you will need lots of is patience!”

Identifying what’s crawling, flying, jumping, biting, running and buzzing is all part of the fun.
Julie recommends Garden Safari (just don’t look at the newly posted images of the common house spider if you’re at all delicate on the subject of spiders like me) or UK Safari which has rather less scary subjects such as the jewel-like iridescent Rose Chafer Beetle.

Techno tweaking can produce stunning results. A dandelion seed head, very accessible subject matter, transformed by a background of black capturing the moment of release. How? You’ll have to experiment to find out.  Send in your macro mysterious images and we’ll share them online.

See more of Julie’s photographs in our July Gardens story ‘The epitome of summer; Roses grow on you’ and on her website. 
Simon Harrap of Norfolk Nature walks (see July’s Nature story ‘Beauty and the Brecks’) also runs wildlife workshops including digital flower photography. For more information view his website.