When I told my brother the name I picked for my photo website, he joked that macroview.com was probably unavailable because it was held by a global economic forum. Certainly, on first blush, my name choice seems more suggestive of macroeconomics or globalization than photography. And, I realized after buying the domain, it might be difficult to mold it into my desired meaning without the whole thing coming off as forced. I thought about it, and decided it’s not that big of a stretch.

macro [close-up photography] + view [to look at carefully] + .org [non-profit top-level domain]

My hobby is taking close-up photos of things that often get overlooked. Making little big. I think it works.

Photographers, whether they shoot high school headshots or time lapse light painting animation, want to believe there is some kind of artistic element to their work. I do too. However, it’s easy to go off the deep end with that stuff, and I want to balance attempted insight with literal description. A friend said my photos reminded her of “miksang,” so I looked it up: “Miksang is a Tibetan word meaning ‘Good Eye,’ and represents a form of contemplative photography based on the Dharma Art teachings of Chögyam Trungpa.” Thanks Wikipedia, but I don’t know.

Yes, I think some photos can inspire contemplation, but honestly, more often than not I just like the way something looks. It’s pretty. That, and I like to draw attention to the detail of mundane things. The photo above? That’s a screw on the back of a fish cleaning table (not something one would ordinarily photograph). I dunno, I just like old, rusted things I suppose. Contemplation? Well, I do think about the effects of time and nature on objects – especially non-galvanized metal! – and how these objects are the most beautiful when they are old and discarded, or near the end of their functional life.

You may also notice that not all my photos meet the standard for “macro.” In fact, that standard is fairly fluid, and I lean more towards this simple understanding: the subject in a shot will appear life-size or larger on a 4×6 print. I don’t follow strict rules.

So, this site is really pretty simple; I post one macro every few days, with a title and brief description. As a supplement, the post will include a few lines about what camera I used, whether the image was cropped or adjusted, and possibly other small details. Many of the images come from personal books I’ve made in iPhoto (MACROWINTER and MACROMURALS are pictured on the left). I usually print just one copy of the book, but sometimes I give another to Mom and Dad, or to a person/group that was helpful in answering questions about the images. I also frame a print here and there and hang it in my house. All of the photos are copyrighted, so please don’t use them without asking me. More than likely, I’ll say yes without lengthy conditions.

I’m currently using a black Sony© Cyber-shot© DSC-W80 digital camera for all my photos. A few of the images on this site come from a DSC-W50 that got lost in a move. A point and shoot camera you say? Yes. It has obvious disadvantages, like a medium quality lens, auto-focus, and no manual control of shutter and f-stop. However, the size is really important to me; it is slim and light, and I’m able to cram the thing into spaces I never could with a physically bigger camera. I also like that I can wander around with it, ready for anything, but not burdened with a camera bag. I do plan to upgrade, so I can have both options, but right now I’m pretty satisfied.

My tool to update this site is a simple, white MacBook with 1GB of memory. I love it dearly. MV was developed using WordPress, a free publishing platform that is a virtual Godsend even to us atheists. My hosting site is 1and1.com, which is affordable and reliable. I did the graphic design and visual layout for this site. I did not code it. I hired a very skilled and great guy by the name of Grant Dobbe to do that. I couldn’t possibly recommend him more. Thanks for viewing this site, and please feel free to comment on the photos.

Russell L. Bauder