First I learned to observe. Only later did I start to photograph.

Before the Camera

It’s an early, chilly morning. Thirty minutes by car and I’m at my favourite meadow. The sun is just appearing above the horizon, its first rays illuminating plants covered in delicate drops of dew.

Slowly, I scan the vegetation. At this time of day, many insects and arachnids are still motionless on the tips of the grasses. One blade after another and… there it is! A Lythria cruentaria – a small moth.

Its entire body is covered in tiny drops of dew. It sits perfectly still, as if waiting for me to make a move. The unusual yellow-and-pink pattern on its wings immediately catches my attention. So do its antennae, resembling two delicate plumes. They reveal that this is a male.

Just a little more time to observe. The image is already beginning to form in my mind. Only then do I reach for the camera.

Now I know how I want to show it.

The need to observe nature appeared in my life long before the first camera. It was more than just a childhood fascination – my family also had a great influence on the way I learned to look at the natural world.

Although spiders had always fascinated me, they also frightened me.

I remember one summer evening at my grandmother’s house as if it were yesterday. The lights were off, a cartoon was playing on television and suddenly… there was an enormous spider’s shadow on the wall.

A giant house spider was walking along the headboard of the bed – a common visitor in our homes, but to a small boy like me, simply a huge spider. Slightly paralysed with fear, I called for my grandmother.

She walked into the room, looked at my terrified face and immediately understood where the spider was. Without the slightest hesitation, she walked over to the bed and held out her hands.

The spider calmly climbed onto one of them and settled down. My grandmother gently covered it with her other hand, then walked out of the room as if nothing had happened and carried the spider outside.

Over time, fear gave way to curiosity. Today, spiders are among my greatest fascinations, with jumping spiders holding a particularly special place in my heart.

Nature Began to Have Names

I was increasingly found wandering through bushes and undergrowth. My family noticed it too. Whenever they had the opportunity, they gave me more books and field guides about nature.

The things I had been observing began to acquire names. Omomiłek szary, rozciągnik mchuś, pływak żółtobrzeżek… one unusual name after another started getting tangled up in my head.

Every new page of a field guide introduced another character I wanted to find somewhere around me.

Interestingly, very little has changed in that respect. Even today, heading into the field sometimes means looking for a particular species. The difference is that it’s now easier to predict where and when it might be found.

Some encounters are particularly special. A species known as a child only from an illustration in a field guide can, several decades later, suddenly appear right in front of you.

From Smartphone to My First Camera

The years went by. School, new interests and later work meant less and less time for observing nature. Then smartphones and macro lenses appeared. The results were far from what I would call macro photography today, but being able to show up close what was hiding in the grass gave me enormous pleasure.

A smartphone and macro lens were almost always close at hand. Photographs were increasingly shared online, bringing opportunities to meet other enthusiasts and draw inspiration from their work. Over time, however, simply documenting discoveries was no longer enough. Attention shifted towards colours, backgrounds and – or so it seemed at the time – composition.

One day, Marysia, whom I had met in one of the online groups, wrote to me. Her nature landscapes had always been a source of admiration.

“Adrian! Your photos are really good, but they’re missing one thing – composition.”

It turned out that the grid dividing the smartphone screen into nine sections was not, as previously assumed, there simply to make it easier to place the subject right in the middle of the frame. Marysia explained the rule of thirds and showed how the arrangement of elements affects the way an entire image is perceived.

She also gave me a simple task: go back to the earlier photographs and try cropping them again. That was the moment when something changed.

It was no longer enough to show what had been found. The question became how to show it.

After almost a year of photographing with a smartphone and macro lens, the idea of taking the hobby further began to emerge. The natural choice seemed to be… simply getting a better smartphone.

That was when my good friend Łukasz, who already knew his way around photography, asked:

“Would you ever like to print a huge poster of a jumping spider?”

“Absolutely!”

“Then buy a used camera. Not a phone.”

And that is how a thirteen-year-old DSLR with an APS-C sensor and a 50mm lens ended up in my hands. To achieve greater magnification, extension tubes and additional lenses were used.

The beginning wasn’t easy. As a complete beginner, I tried to understand how the different camera settings affected the image. Most of the learning happened through trial and error. There were moments when I had had enough and wanted to go back to the simplicity of a smartphone.

What helped were small tips from kind people – not ready-made solutions, but hints that allowed me to understand the relationships between the different camera settings for myself.

Eventually, something clicked.

Photography became more and more natural.

Later came a fascination with flash photography and diffusers. Suddenly, conditions that had previously limited my work became much easier to handle. More importantly, however, a completely new world began to emerge.

The camera, additional accessories and deliberately shaped light revealed much more than just the silhouettes of insects. A world of details I had never known existed came into view.

The more I photographed, the more I wanted to shoot. But limitations soon appeared.

Every change in magnification meant swapping accessories. In the field, this meant a dirty sensor, accessories being dropped into the grass and – most importantly – lost time.

And wildlife doesn’t wait for a photographer. It follows its own rhythm. Sometimes there are several minutes, sometimes only a few seconds. You have to act here and now.

“What if there were a simpler and faster way?” I thought.

The solution turned out to be the Laowa 100mm f/2.8 Macro 2:1, offering 2:1 magnification. Finally, there was no need to constantly switch additional accessories, leaving more attention for photography itself.

As it turned out later, this wasn’t just a step forward in terms of equipment.

While publishing photographs, I was tagging the manufacturer regularly. Over Time, they noticed my work and offered me a position of ambassador.

It was a huge honour – and the beginning of an entirely new chapter.

The Camera and Lens Are Just Tools

The collaboration also took me to one of the larger photography events in Poland.

For the first time, I was going to lead a photo walk and talk about my photography in front of a larger audience. The stress was enormous.

That was when I heard something from the team that has stayed with me ever since:

“Adrian, your job isn’t to promote the equipment. You’re here to talk about your photographs and your passion for nature. The camera and lens are just tools.”

Those words completely changed the way I approached my future presentations.

During the event, another question was asked:

“What would be your dream macro photography setup?”

Without hesitation, the answer was: Olympus – now OM SYSTEM.

Interestingly, I had never actually used the system before. Its capabilities were known mainly through the work of other photographers and materials available online.

One feature was particularly fascinating: focus bracketing. A series of images with the focus plane gradually shifted, previously captured manually, could be produced automatically by the camera – and much faster.

It was easy to imagine what that speed could mean in the field.

Love at First Shot

Buying a new system was still beyond my financial means.

That was when I met Przemek Jakubczyk, OM SYSTEM’s technical expert in Poland. He offered to lend me an OM-1 body with an M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm Macro lens for a few weeks and asked me to share my experience afterwards.

Finally, there was a chance to find out whether the capabilities that looked so impressive online actually worked in the field.

They did.

It may sound a little cliché, but it was love at first shot.

The light weight, speed and intuitive features were exactly what I had been looking for.

After three weeks, the review was published and the equipment returned. It was already clear, however, that sooner or later there would be a desire to come back to it.

A few months later, Przemek called.

After a brief greeting, he said:

“I have a collaboration proposal for you…”

Not long afterwards, I became an OM SYSTEM ambassador.

The announcement of the collaboration coincided with the launch of the M.Zuiko Digital ED 90mm F3.5 Macro IS PRO – a lens that opened up an entirely new range of possibilities for macro photography.

Equipment That Lets Me Work

Today I shoot with an OM-1 Mark II and the M.Zuiko 90mm.

It quickly became clear that this wasn’t simply about making the work more convenient. The new system genuinely changed what could be photographed – and how.

One of the system’s most important features for me is its Micro Four Thirds sensor. Its size works extremely well with the way I approach macro photography.

At the same magnification, a smaller sensor captures a smaller portion of the image, making it easier for a small subject to fill the frame. When photographing insects and spiders, this makes a huge difference.

The system is particularly appreciated on cold mornings, when focus stacking is often part of the process.

You never know how much time nature will give you. A gust of wind or the slightest movement of an insect can be enough to ruin a sequence.

Automatic focus bracketing makes it possible to start and stop a sequence quickly whenever necessary, while keeping the entire process under control on the camera’s screen.

In a short amount of time, a sequence can be captured for later focus stacking of an entire insect, the perspective can be changed, the magnification increased, and attention shifted towards the smallest details. The work can be done handheld or from a tripod, with a flash and a diffuser of my own design.

What once required manually moving the plane of focus now takes considerably less time.

Instead of fighting against the clock, the focus can remain on the creature in front of the lens – and on new ways of showing it.

Insects and spiders live in very different environments – from wet meadows to dry, sandy areas. Photographing them means following them into those places.

That is why resistance to difficult conditions is equally important. Moisture, dew, dust and sand shouldn’t determine whether the camera comes out of the bag that day.

The camera provides the speed and freedom of movement that had been missing for years. But in macro photography, what sits in front of the sensor is just as important.

So why is the M.Zuiko 90mm almost always in my backpack?

My Way of Photographing

I like to show the creatures I photograph in different ways.

Sometimes it’s a tight portrait, filled with the smallest details. Other times, it’s a more scenic close-up, where the surroundings become just as important as the subject itself.

That’s why the versatility of the M.Zuiko 90mm is so important to me. Its maximum 2:1 magnification and ability to focus all the way to infinity allow a quick transition from extreme close-ups to much wider compositions – without changing lenses or reaching for additional accessories.

A portrait of a praying mantis can reveal the complexity of its anatomy. A moment later, the same subject can be photographed from farther away, incorporating the surrounding vegetation.

The same encounter, the same lens – two completely different stories.

Image stabilization also plays an important role, especially when shooting handheld.

In the field, a tripod isn’t always the answer. Sometimes the only option is to “get into the rhythm” of a spider swaying in its web. Stabilization helps keep the composition under control and allows full attention to remain on the right moment.

Automation makes it possible to work quickly, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the best solution.

With active subjects such as jumping spiders, manual focus is often the better choice. Being able to take control of focusing gives you complete control over the plane of focus and the composition.

Every Lens Is a Compromise

Is there anything that bothers me about this lens?

Yes.

The longer focal length means a narrower field of view. When photographing larger subjects, I have to move farther away to fit them into the frame. In the field, that isn’t always possible.

At times, a faster aperture would also be welcome, offering more freedom in challenging lighting conditions. At the same time, such a change would probably mean a larger and heavier lens.

The alternative is the M.Zuiko 60mm. It’s a lens I really like – it’s faster, and its shorter focal length offers more freedom when working with wider compositions. On the other hand, its maximum magnification is 1:1.

Do these limitations mean I wouldn’t buy the M.Zuiko 90mm again?

Not at all.

Every lens is a combination of possibilities and compromises. I’ve fully accepted the compromises that this lens brings, and its character has become something to work with rather than against.

Today, it’s difficult to imagine working without it.

And what do I miss about the OM-1 Mark II?

Very little, actually. If only the MENU button were on the right-hand side, making it easier to operate the camera with one hand… I’d be in photographic heaven.

What Matters Most

Today, I return to the places I knew as a child. Not only as an observer, but as a conscious and deliberate photographer.

The equipment has changed over the years, just as my experience has.

But the most important thing has remained the same – curiosity about the natural world. It’s what makes me step into a dew-covered meadow every morning and start looking for another story.