All of a sudden, it is fall, and macro photography has slowed down and moved inside. Of course this happens every year, around this time, but usually the change for me has been much slower and more subtle. But here in Illinois the transition was pretty abrupt and the shift to off-season macro happened overnight. And this was a rude awakening for me because it underscored the fact that I am nowhere near ready to move my focus back into the studio.

My indoor setup is still not ready, mostly thanks to the endless litany of improvements and upgrades that I have come up with following the move. But I am out of excuses and out of time. So this weekend I decided to go ahead with the most recent set of plans and started assembling the hardware for the build that I will be stuck with for this off-season.

I will be using a horizontal system built around an idler platform riding on 4 linear bearing blocks and driven by the awesome Castel Micro from Novoflex. Unlike previous builds, this one is going to have the rail that drives the platform mounted underneath and connected via a newly designed, adjustable, 3D printed linkage. This latest iteration of the linkage is by far my favorite and the only one that I think is going to be sturdy enough for heavy duty use all winter long. By driving the platform from below I hope to clean up the working surface of the rig so that it can be used as a more effective teaching tool, less cluttered and easier to capture clear video. I hope to have it up and running by the weekend and, if so, it will the subject of next week’s livestreams.

But for this week I thought we could talk about the changing season and how we need to adapt our field techniques to make the most of it. On Tuesday, in Macro Talk, we will look at doing macro photography in cooler, breezier conditions when there are fewer subjects trying to catch our attention.

I do quite a few things differently when I am working in cooler and damper conditions. I’ll break down my approach and show you some of the images that I captured while out in nature this weekend. Here is the link to the stream - https://youtube.com/live/3JUYXSbf8aY?feature=share

Preparing for this got me thinking about some of the really cool stuff we get to photograph throughout the year and I decided to pull out some examples of what makes macro so much fun for me, and that is what I want to talk about in Macro Talk Too on Thursday. The livestream can be found here… https://youtube.com/live/-ngLSFHk5tE?feature=share

This Saturday is a Pzoom Saturday and I am thrilled to say we have a couple of new introductions to look forward to - this is when a member of our group gives us a snapshot of themselves and their macro story so far. Each introduction typically includes photographs that illustrate their story as well as a rundown of their current or planned macro projects.

I love these opportunities to get to know you a little better! This week we are also starting something entirely new (and very experimental!) - it is called “Interpretations”, and it is all about how our pictures could look through another’s eyes. This is an exclusive bonus feature for my awesome Patreon supporters, at least for right now - to learn more head over to www.patreon.com/allanwallsphotography

Talking about Patreon and Pzoom,  my Patreon peeps can find their invitation to this week’s Pzoom over on my Patreon page!

That is it for this week - it looks lighter than it actually is - I have a ton of stuff going on behind the scenes - exciting new collaborations, interviews, the AWP Essentials Project, and a lot more! A huge thanks to my Patreon supporters and to every one of you who supports my work by watching, subscribing, and liking! Thanks you!