Photographer Seeks Insects’ Complex Beauty

After tiring of photographing birds in his back yard, Al Williamson turned to the insects in his patio.

And when he tired of shooting the same old bugs, he grew his own.

“I found a number of places to buy insect eggs and raise them,” said Williamson, 83, a former Lockheed industrial engineer who turned to photography to while away his retirement years.

He said his wife, Edith, a ceramist and painter, has learned to accept “my eccentricities” by allowing him to keep a few of his growing bugs in the refrigerator.

“You know, insects are fascinating creatures to photograph,” said the Laguna Hills Leisure World resident who buys his insect eggs from entomologists in Virginia, Wyoming and Pennsylvania.

By raising his own, Williamson has been able to photograph them “all through the stages of eggs to growing insects,” said the Laguna Hills Camera Club member and one-time mountain climber, who remains a member of the Sierra Club.

“When you photograph an insect that is an inch long and blow it up, you can see how complex and beautiful it is,” he said. “You can learn something about nature that way.”

Williamson said he learned love of nature from his duck-hunting father, who first turned him on to the peace and beauty of the mountains.

“When I grew up I would often backpack through the mountains with a buddy, and when there wasn’t anyone to go with, I would do it by myself,” he said. “I learned that nature is the most wonderful thing in the world.”

Although he started taking pictures when he was 12, Williamson didn’t become serious with the camera as a hobby until he retired in 1969.

“It hasn’t lost its appeal,” said Williamson. “It’s a wonderful hobby, and it’s something you can grow old with. I’m doing that.”

Although he considers himself “an advanced amateur who is just a little bit better than the average guy,” Williamson has won a number of awards with his bird and insect photography.

Only the cost of shipping pictures prevents him from exhibiting his work.

“I’m proud of the things I’ve done, but I’m not willing to spend much money for stamps to send them to exhibitors,” he said, pointing out that it costs upward of $10 to send prints to other countries. “The postage is so high these days.”

So Williamson set up a number of exhibits within the local camera club and sent slides of his insect and bird photography to the Photographic Society of America which has placed them on exhibit in salons throughout the country.

While his photographic efforts are mainly directed toward insects, birds still play a part in his life, especially hummingbirds.

“I keep a feeder decorated with flowers which attract hummingbirds and I photograph them while they zip forward and backward,” he said. “The hummingbird is a natural acrobat and is entertaining to watch and photograph.”

His bird photography started while living above Sunset Boulevard before he retired.

“There were all kinds of birds to photograph, and I think I photographed them all,” Williamson said. “When you specialize in photography, you take advantage of what is around you.”