Going Macro | Drew Shonka Photography

First published in The Study of Light, on Substack, on December 23, 2025

A perfect strawberry, a perfect metaphor. From Mandy's patch, next to the big lake.

Where I live, “Go Macro” isn’t a diet so much, it’s a locally produced, uber-delicious, and likely healthy snack bar. This substack is not a paid advertisement, but no matter. Buy Go Macro bars. They’re incredible.

For me, I go macro sometimes when I shoot. Smaller than normal, but not micro, which leads us into unrecognizability. I like to get into the details, and see what a thing is made of. I want to break a scene down to the colors, or color. A texture. Nothing else but what it is. There are surprises in macro photography. Shapes and textures and colors you might not have noticed before.

At left, the down of a blue jay. At right, pulling back a little bit. Now you recognize him. This bird was a roadkill outside of Soldier's Grove, Wisconsin.

Christopher's poppies, that grow next to Mandy's strawberries.

Here the moss shoots through fresh fallen snow. At right, you can see it in context.

Saint Someone or Another, gathering cobwebs.

We all know that a drop of water is shaped like a tear, but that's only true of a large drop of water, that barely hangs together bearing its own weight. Smaller drops of water look like perfect orbs. See the spider's webs with their vast amount of water. Directly to the right of the big drop is a tiny drop. Maybe thousands of these equal the big one?

Cuscuta, aka dodder, is a native invasive. These are growing on the coast in Washington. At right, this is what you actually see from where you stand.

Two close-ups of a red-bellied woodpecker. This one died hitting a picture window.

That one leaf I found last fall...

The first plum blossoms, arrived in February. Arakashima, Japan.

Tomato art!