Experimenting with Photography and Capturing Science

A moment of perfect light with a beautiful backdrop.

Before I left last summer for Iceland, I decided to make an investment in a quality camera. It’s something I’ve always wanted to buy, and I finally had the perfect excuse. Over the course of the summer I developed a new love for photography and what it can mean. I took my time trying different angles, using different amounts of light in the photo and experimenting with the settings on my camera. I realized that the best photography teacher for me was myself and my own experimentation.

Guttation: close up of a small plant on the ground.

Sometimes I could plan for a particular photo and really anticipate how it would turn out; but, often I was wrong. Some of my favorite photos are ones that I took spontaneously out of pure inspiration in a simple moment with no plan or expectation.  I remember one day I was out in the field and the air felt very heavy with water that day.  A slight mist was falling across the landscape. I was hiking up a hill and very carefully watching my feet when I began to notice that the tiny little plants were covered with big glossy drops of water. Upon closer examination, I realized that these plants were not covered in dew, but the water was actually escaping from the tips of the leaves traveling all the way up through the xylem from the roots, through the stems, and finally into the leaves where tiny pores are found called stomata. These pores are typically used for gas exchange during photosynthesis, and allow for evaporation of water molecules as a cooling mechanism for the plants - much like we sweat through our pores.  However, on some occasions, when the conditions are right, and the air is heavy with moisture,  the pressure of water entering the roots is enough to push water molecules all the way up to the top of these tiny plants and out through their pores in a process called guttation; forming water droplets on the leaves that can be mistaken as dew.

Top: A picture of a geothermal hot pot and the
landscape under a low sun.
Bottom: A close up of the water
 frozen in rings around where
hot bubbles of water escape in the middle

To some extent, the way I approach photography is similar to the way I approach scientific research. I see some phenomenon, draw in closer and investigate, zoom in with my macro lens, and find the small details that are often unnoticed and hidden. I like to catch the small details of an object up close and personal. But, then sometimes when you get too buried in the details, you have to zoom back out and take a look at the big picture. This is true in our research as well.  At times, we need to focus in on small details and mechanisms at work, like the factors that influence what happens inside a small cell or the movement of molecules.  But, at the same time, we have to remind ourselves of the larger goal and our broader questions - and how the ecosystem works as a whole. This is similar to when I’ve really zoomed in on a small detail of a plant, or building, and at first glance you can’t always tell what it is, but when I step back and take a picture of the whole, sometimes the view is just as detailed and spectacular and reveals the whole story.