Last spring I traveled 8 hours to RMSP Weekends in Bozeman and ended up taking all of my classes from Tony. His personality and teaching style was one of the biggest reasons I decided to go to RMSP to spend the summer of 2009. Tony has a niche for photographing children but also loves macro photography. Some of my favorite macro photographs are definitely made by Tony. After seeing a few of his examples in his introductory slideshow I knew I had to try it. The only problem was I didn't have a 'true' macro lens and if you know me I do not like to do anything half assed so I never attempted it.
Over the winter Tony decided he was going to go back to using Nikon and put all of his Canon equipment up for sale. Included in that sale were his macro rings... I knew I had to have them as I didn't feel comfortable throwing down hundreds of dollars on a macro lens just in case I didn't take to that genre of photography. A week after talking to Tony about his macro rings they showed up on my doorstep and I was instantly flooded with excitement!
I'm not sure how far I'll get into macro but after my first attempt I knew that this could turn out to be quite the hobby. While I was photographing this late bloom Christmas Cactus I became one with the plant. I felt like I was one of the little yellow spots of pollen that comfortably held onto the vibrant pink pistil. As my eyes moved around the plant and it's beautiful flowers I noticed the curves, the texture, the color and the unique soft design. This first attempt at photographing macro has changed the way I see small detail forever. I can't wait to see what photographs I will be making after I get to know the equipment a little better!
Me pinching off the wilted bloom after it is only open and beautiful for two days. You can tell how far into the flower I am in the above photo's...
