Informal Macro Outing Group

Saturday, April 2, 2011

8/2011 - Alexandra Hospital Butterfly Trail (2 Apr 2011)

It was a make-or-break Macro photography outing. It rained around 530am this morning. An ideal weather to snuggle in bed and sleep but definitely not on a Saturday morning! I thought to myself, would it stop by 6am? I closed my eyes and momentarily, my alarm rang at 6am sharp. The weather was still not looking good. After a few checks with a friend who lives near Alexandra, I made a decision. I started SMSing everyone that the outing was cancelled. I could not sleep thereafter.

Saturday without Macro photography is depressing. It is the only weekly Informal Macro Photography Outing where friends from all walks of life gather together to share a common interest. Recently, three more friends from the Philippines, China and Iran joined us.

At 645am, the weather had somewhat improved. No blue sky but the familiar morning Sunbirds were chirping happily away outside my bedroom window. A good sign I thought. Simultaneously, a friend who lives near the East Coast told me that according to the NEA weather radar, the rain in Queenstown was clearing too. Well, another good sign! Without further hesitation, I SMSed to everyone again that if they were still awake (like me) and raring to go, they should meet at the butterfly trail. Most of them turned up before 830am albeit it was drizzling a little.

Our checklist!

Flor getting up close with a group of Bark Lice
and I got goosebumps by looking at them!

Bark Lice by Flor J.

It was a slow start and there were very few subjects to be seen. I guess perhaps it was because of the heavy downpour. As soon as we arrived at the garden, I rushed to the host plant where I found the 8cm long Death’s Head Hawkmoth caterpillar during a recce trip but it was no where to be found. I walked back disappointed but found Allan all excited because he found a Plain Nawab caterpillar. Hazel said it resembles a character from the Pokemon group of monsters!

To find out, click Star of the Day by Allan Lee

In less than 2hrs into our shoot, we could feel the heat. Flor was perspiring profusely, the rain drops on the plants evaporated quickly and the ground became a little drier. I spotted a Drab Brown Wave Moth basking in the sun. Can you spot it? Let's see if you can ~ Drab Brown Wave Moth by Sharon S. Lim

Xinjian adjusting his setup to capture the beautiful

Death’s Head Hawkmoth caterpillar

The last time Xinjian visited the butterfly trail on his own, he told me he was disheartened as he could not find any suitable subject to shoot. During this IMOG outing, we introduced him to many interesting and unusual subjects that kept him busy for hours. Above, he gave the Death's Head Hawkmoth caterpillar a shot. Below is an image of the Death's Head Hawkmoth caterpillar found by Cheow Tin who gladly shared it with a few of us. So, why is it called Death's Head Hawkmoth? To find out, go take a look on Jodie Foster's lips, found on the movie poster of The Silence of the Lambs. If you know why, leave your answer in Post a Comment.

by Lim Cheow Tin

There were many Common Birdwing caterpillars on the host plant but we could not find any chrysalis. Below is an image of the graceful Common Birdwing. It was fluttering from place to place to lay eggs. By doing that, it increases the chances of survival of its "offsprings".

by Allan Lee - Common Birdwing

by Peter Low - Plain Nawab caterpillar

by Hazel Han - Lime Butterfly caterpillar

by Kyaw Htay. Any idea what will this mature into?

It was getting warmer as the sun rose above us in the late morning. We had to call it a day around 1130 am but all of us could not bear to say goodbye to the Plain Nawab caterpillar and the rest of the many creepy crawlies we found there including a Common Two-tailed Spider, Weaver Ant by Mohammad K., Mating Bugs by Allan Lee, Common Birdwing or Common Rose caterpillar by Sharon S. Lim.

Well, suffice to say, the IMOG outing was a fruitful and eventful one. The morning rain was indeed a blessing in disguise. Thank you for taking your time to read our blog. Please do remember to come back next week for more images (I know the write-up is boring) as we explore Project MacroLumbus together with Endy Tan.

See you next week!

Participants (8) - Sharon S. Lim (Trip Leader), Allan Lee, Peter Low, Hazal Han, Lim Cheow Tin, Flor J, Loy Xinjian and Ko Kyaw Htay.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

7/2011 - Rifle Range Nature Trail (26 Mar 2011)

Another nice morning greeted us, this time at Rifle Range Nature Trail! There were not short of interesting subjects and the participants would be sharing their discoveries here shortly. Hence, please come back for more updates ...

(Start of the nature trail ...)

(An interesting stream)

(Sadiran in action)

(CT Lim in action)

(On our way home ...)

Participants (18) - Cai Yixiong (Trip Leader), Endy Tan, Allan Lee, Sharon S. Lim, Anthony Quek, CT Lim, Phoebe Leong, Chan CP, Rosemary, Kyaw Htay, Sonia Zou, Flor J, Ong Ngee Ming, John Wong, Joe Tan, Sadiran Samikon, Mohammad KaramiNejad Ranjbar & Hazel Han

Saturday, March 19, 2011

6/2011 - Clementi Ave 4 (19 Mar 2011)

The weather forecast for today indicated partly cloudy but it turned out to be sunny with a bright clear sky. With such a nice morning, John Wong our guest leader, led us to explore an interesting greenery area located somewhere between Clementi Ave 4 and Sunset Way. We were told that this site is actually part of the old Malaysia Railway Line (Jurong Line) but has been disused for more than 20 years. The railway track is still there and from a distance, it looks like it is operational. Someone even asked “Is it safe to shoot here?”.

On both sides of the railway track, there are full of grasses, plants as well as wild fruits and flowers. The wild flowers attracted quite a no. of butterflies and bees. Unfortunately, they hardly perch for a long period and it was really difficult to capture them in pixels. Hence, some of us concentrated on photographing flowers instead.

We saw some fruit trees too such as mango and Jambu (Rose Apple). The mangoes were very small but the Jambus, although not as big and red as those found in Malaysia or Taiwan, they certainly looked good enough to be eaten! One of us couldn’t resist the temptation and tasted one of them. It was surprising sweet and juicy!

(Delicious Jambus)

Even a stink bug was attracted to it and tried to suck some of its juices!

A few ventured further up on the left hand side of the railway track. Darren spotted a crab spider there perching on a frond filled with nice marking and pattern. An interesting and enjoyable view!

At about 9 am, John led us to the right hand side of the railway track. There is a old bridge not too far away. Our target was to reach the other end of the bridge where there are some green vegetation to be explored.

(An old bridge)

However, from near, the bridge looked a little scary and dangerous to cross and there was a "DANGER KEEP OUT" sign to warn people from crossing over.

(Danger! don't cross!)

As it is better to be safe than sorry, we took a detour by walking carefully down a slope and used a pedestrian bridge nearby. It was quite a distance but no one was complaining as all of us knew that safety comes first.

(Walking down a slope)

Other subjects spotted in this outing include a large changeable lizard, praying mantis, mating cotton bugs, ants, ladybird, tussock moth, damselflies, dragonfly, jumping spiders, a rare cicada and many more.

After a few hours of shooting, we finally called it a day and went to a nearby coffee shop at Blk 308 for lunch and chit-chat. Some members had left earlier due to other commitments but those who stayed behind were rewarded with a nice group photo to bring back as a memory of this relaxing and enjoyable outing.

(Endy, Sadiran, Ong, Kyaw Htay, Joe Tan, Flor, Doris, Phoebe, Sonia, Xingjing, Joe Kellard)

Please click the following links to see some of the images taken at this outing:

Participants (22) - John Wong (Guest Leader), Darren Chng, Endy Tan, Allan Lee, Sharon S. Lim, Phoebe Leong, Kyaw Htay, Yeo Tang Lim, Tan Teck Nam, Loy Xingjian, Ong Lim Sim, Flor J. Joe Tan, Sadiran Samikon, Sonia Zou, Danny, Eugene, Leonard, Joe Kellard, Doris Ng, Mohammad KaramiNejad Ranjbar & Anthony Quek (Coordinator)

Saturday, February 26, 2011

5/2011 - Venus Drive (26 Feb 2011)

Venus Drive is one of our favourite macro shooting sites, so I am glad to organize an outing to this place on Sat, 26 Feb 2011.

The weather was good, quite cool and the light was not too harsh. When I arrived at the Car Park (meeting point), most of the participants who had signed up were already there, with their gears all set up and ready to shoot.

Due to the previous day’s rain, the grass was a bit waterlogged, but it did not deter the shooters. Most of them started by exploring the grassy area outside the nature trail.

(Starting point of Venus Drive)

(Yeo TL in action)

(Yeo, Allan, Victor, Ming)

Thanks to a cue from Allan, we were also able to locate a group of caterpillars near the entrance to the trail. Many of us had fun taking turns to take some photos of the hungry caterpillars which were defoliating the leaves.

(Hungry caterpillars by Darren Chng)

I noticed the authorities had widened the trail and that was a welcome news to us. It was easier now to navigate the trail and to set up our tripods and camera without obstructing the other hikers and joggers.

As we walked further into the forest, we saw leaves glistening with raindrops that probably came with downpour the previous night. The air was refreshing with the wet vegetation.

(Forest Path by Phoebe Leong)

(Kyaw Htay, Allan, Endy, Sharon)

Quite a number of interesting subjects were spotted here such as mating two-tailed spiders, two-tailed spider with prey, a rare blue moth, huntsman spider with babies, etc. But the one that really got us excited was a large Colugo or flying lemur hugging comfortably onto a tree trunk, about 4 to 5 metres away from the ground.

More surprises awaited us as we advanced deeper into the forest. They were lots of dry leaves and dead logs on both sides of the trail. However, one dead log stood out from the rest. Hiding beneath it, was a cluster of pretty bright yellow mushrooms. A real beauty and they looked very much like those corals found in the sea. Allan called them “Land Corals”!

(The advantage of shooting in a group)

(When the master shoots, the rest watches!)

(Pano view of "Land Coral")

Please click the following links to see some of the pictures taken during this fruitful outing:

Participants (20) - Darren Chng (Trip Leader), Cai Yixiong, Endy Tan, Allan Lee, Sharon S. Lim, Tony Png, Anthony Quek, CT Lim, Phoebe Leong, Chan CP, Victor Loh, Kyaw Htay, Joshua Fong, Jia Yin, Yeo TL, Wong Heng Meng, Eugene Hu, Ming, Joyce & John Wong

Saturday, February 12, 2011

4/2011 - Kranji Nature Trail (12 Feb 2011)

Even though it was the 10th day of Chinese New Year (年初十), a strong team of 20 macro shooters turned up at Kranji Nature Trail (KNT). The weather was good and at the car park meeting point, we saw a beautiful golden sunrise not too far away. Surprisingly, nobody bothered to take any snapshot of it, probably because we were too busy exchanging CNY greeetings!

At the entrance of KNT, there were plenty of greenery and bushes under an open sky offering great opportunities to photograph dewy subjects. Below is a common hopper with dews taken under backlighting condition.

(A backlit hopper with dews - Anthony Quek)

We did not stay around the entrance for long as the sunlight was too strong for our liking. We moved about 150 metres inwards where we could shoot under the comfort of sheltered trees.

(150 metres from the entrance)

Most of us spent almost 2 hours here as there were abundant of subjects to keep us busy! CP Chan was the luckiest as he had the luxury to shoot under a very comfortable environment. I would not want to move a bit if I were in his position!

(Now you know why many people joined IMOG outing!)

However, there are others who are more adventurous and preferred to explore deeper into the bushes for the sake of finding rare insects as demonstrated by Foong & Xingjian:

(Foong & Xingjian in action)

Many spider species (some with preys) were sighted here such as Hasselt's Spiny spider, St Andrew's Cross spider, Golden Web spider, Lynx spider, large jumping spider, etc.

(Happy meal by Lee Yan Leong)

(Large jumping spider by Joe Kellard)

Other subjects spotted include various hoppers, dragonflies, colourful sting bug, caterpillars, butterflies, changeable lizard, a "human-liked face" bug, etc.

As we explored further into the trail, it eventually led us to the seashore with the Johor Straits on one side and mangroves on the other. At the mangroves, it was not difficult to spot all kinds of crabs. However, most of them were skittish in nature and hard getting close to them. CT Lim was fortunate to photograph a friendly male Delsman's Semaphore crab.

(Delsman's Semaphore crab, male, by Lim Cheow Tin)

After more than 3 hrs of shooting, most of us were tired and we took a rest at a shelter near the mangrove forest where we had some nice chit-chats.

(Foong, Allan, Sharon, Hazel, Yan Leong)

(CT Lim, Foong, LS Ong, Allan, Yixiong, Sharon, Anthony, Hazel, Yan Leong)

We called it a day at 12 pm and went to the nearby coffee shop for lunch. Since Endy had to leave early at 10 am, I would like to use his pet phrase to conclude this outing ie. "it was another very successful IMOG outing!".

Please see the following links for other images taken during this outing:

Participants (20) - Anthony Quek (Trip Leader), Cai Yixiong, Endy Tan, Allan Lee, Darren Chng, Sharon S. Lim, Tony Png, CT Lim, Phoebe Leong, Nick, Ong Lim Sim, Hazel Han, Loy Xingjian, Koh Ming Yong, Lay Tyng, Joe Kellard, Fonng KT, Chan CP, Doris Ng, & Lee Yan Leong