BACKYARD INSECTS
My first book, Backyard Insects (Scholastic Inc., New York, 1981, is an outgrowth of my involvement creating the first live Insect Zoo in the nation with my wife Nancy. As Assistant to the Director of the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History, I proposed creating a live Insect Zoo exhibit in the museum. I asked Nancy to be the Director and we “hired” a high school student to interact with the public. People came -- and stayed -- in droves. They were fascinated by the honeybees visible in their hive, the Aedes aegypti (carriers of Yellow Fever) mosquitoes I fed by letting them bite me, the termites, the hissing cockroaches, and more. This was the first live insect zoo in the U.S. so we got a lot of coverage in the Washington newspapers and television.
It was at this time that I got interested in doing insect photography. The volunteers and I often went foraging in the woods to find insects to supplement those in the Insect Zoo. My fascination with insects grew and grew as the summer progressed and so did my collection of insect slides. I wanted to find a way to use my photos. What better way than to write a book to excite children (and adults) about what I was observing? I wrote a manuscript about how insects use their appearance – camouflage, mimicry, warning colors, eye spots, posture reversal, and illustrated it with my photos. Scholastic, Inc. decided to publish the book, but chose Millicent Selsam, their own successful science writer, to rewrite it. As they say, -- “and the rest is history”. Nancy and I went on to write 7 more children’s books illustrated with my photos which you can find on this website.
Click on the arrow at the top right of the photo to go to the next pages in the slide show of the book below.
It was at this time that I got interested in doing insect photography. The volunteers and I often went foraging in the woods to find insects to supplement those in the Insect Zoo. My fascination with insects grew and grew as the summer progressed and so did my collection of insect slides. I wanted to find a way to use my photos. What better way than to write a book to excite children (and adults) about what I was observing? I wrote a manuscript about how insects use their appearance – camouflage, mimicry, warning colors, eye spots, posture reversal, and illustrated it with my photos. Scholastic, Inc. decided to publish the book, but chose Millicent Selsam, their own successful science writer, to rewrite it. As they say, -- “and the rest is history”. Nancy and I went on to write 7 more children’s books illustrated with my photos which you can find on this website.
Click on the arrow at the top right of the photo to go to the next pages in the slide show of the book below.
ANIMAL DVDS
To see my animal videos, you can stream them on amazon for $1.99 each for unlimited viewing for a week or for $15.00 each you can stream as often as you want forever.
Click on the DVD icons below to view or access my videos on amazon.com.
You will be leaving this website to go to amazon.com. We hope to see you back soon!
Click on the DVD icons below to view or access my videos on amazon.com.
You will be leaving this website to go to amazon.com. We hope to see you back soon!