Snails

— I first began experimenting with macro photography in late 2019. Testing the waters, I purchased some extension tubes. I fell in love with macro photography right away. I could not imagine the wonders I would discover because of it.

Once COVID caused the world to lock down, I became more serious about macros and purchased my first dedicated macro lens. Without traveling and not having many places to go, my backyard and front yard became a playground with almost limitless opportunities. Experimentation became a habit. I attended a couple of field macro workshops to learn how to photograph insects in flight, primarily bees, damselflies, and dragonflies. Then I became friends with an expert macro photographer and started doing photo walks with her as soon as COVID restrictions began to lift. My desire to travel for landscape photography was replaced with constant explorations into macro photography.

All of the photos you see here were captured in our yard with one exception:

In one of many bike rides, I noticed an area by the trail with several snails high up on flower stems. It puzzled me what they expected to find there. The snail attached to the top of the Mexican Hat flower got my full attention. At home, when I saw the photo on full screen, my eyes were enamored with the details I had captured. One great advantage of photographing snails is that they move very slowly. That helps tremendously in obtaining good focus unless you are going for a shallow depth of field, which is the case for most of these photos.

I am not knowledgeable about snails. I guess I could upload these photos to iNaturalist in order to identify them, but that is beyond the scope of this post. I was actually more interested in how snails help our ecosystem and also what they tend to symbolize in general.

Snails symbolize patience. Their slow movements clearly connect with that trait. Also, snails are associated with rebirth. Their shell is a good example of the constant rebirth process. The secretion that a snail releases is a main component of how its shell grows continuously in that spiral form. Because snails lay a large number of eggs, they are also associated with fertility. Security is another symbol related to snails. When they feel threatened, they can retreat into their shells for safety. Of course, one more symbolism for snails is creativity. Just look at the intricate and varied patterns their shells exhibit. I especially like the design patterns in this next photo.

As for the ecosystem, snails play a role in decomposition, nutrient cycling, and pollination. That last role was a surprise to me. I never associated snails with pollinators. Snails eat dead and decaying matter. In doing so, they release nutrients back into the soil. This helps to keep the soil healthy and productive. They absorb nutrients from the soil and plants and then release them into the environment when they die. This helps to keep the nutrient levels in the ecosystem balanced. Finally, their role in pollination comes into play when they help to transfer pollen from one flower to another, which allows plants to reproduce. Maybe that is what that snail was doing on top of that Mexican Hat flower.

The idea to look at snails in my photo catalog happened because of the Nature Photo Challenge #16: Snails. I first did not think I had any photos of snails, or maybe just a handful. Well, I was surprised that in the last two years, I have collected over 150 photos of snails. You should check out Denzel’s post. He presents great photos and interesting facts about snails.