Alongside the numerous samplings done every day during the expedition, a timeframe is also dedicated to macro-photography. There, a different world can be revealed from what we cannot see with our poor human eyes…
“Wow, this little guy was a flatworm and not a leech“ or “Hey, look at this structure on the right, it is key for the identification “ are just two examples of B121 exclamations associated to someone looking at a macro-picture.
That’s the key advantage of macro-photography: it gives you precious information to identify the organisms onboard (or after the expedition). Last but not least, this is also a good resource for future scientific publications and outreach activities.
That’s why Quentin (Jossart) is spending few hours every day to capture the most common or interesting species collected throughout the day. Photographing them alive is an asset because some structures or colors can deteriorate after preservation. A lot of patience is thus sometimes needed as some animals are constantly moving… “Please mate, stay here a seecccooonnddd” is the most polite exclamation that has been heard from the dedicated photo-area onboard.
