@jenajo
Profession: I am semi-retired as of 2024. I still help manage an insect research laboratory (UGA) that studies mosquitoes and parasitic wasps. I love learning about and photographing insects. I make books and marble paper too :-)
You don't have to go to the tropics to see Ophiocordyceps sp. (?) Zombie ant fungus. These are common in North Georgia. This one is cool with it's branched sporulating growth emerging from behind the ant's head. The ant's legs are wrapped around the twig-mandibles grasping the bark.
One thing I love about macro photography is the intimate observation of insect behavior. You can watch as female mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti in this image) probe beneath the skin for a capillary(?) as the abdomen fills with blood.
BugShot 2012! 13 years ago I attended my first BugShot in Florida with Alex Wild, John Abbott and Thomas Shahan as instructors. (That's me in the Tab shirt 😆) I am happy to say that this macro photography course is still going strong with annual domestic and international workshops. www.bugshot.net
Hallelujah!
As I settle into semi-retirement I am going back through older photographs. I actually have some time! This stable fly is a favorite of mine. (Yes that's my blood. Just took a drop or two)