On May 6, 2024, the Institute for Nanomaterials hosted a lecture on macro photography of insects as part of the InterBridge project, led by the renowned photographer and director of the prestigious Czech Press Photo competition, Mrs. Veronika Souralová. This event became a great addition to our lecture series "Optics", with which we started our Czech-Saxon project focused on connecting science and art.
While Mr. Sýkora's previous lecture took us through the nano and micro world, which requires specialized equipment in the form of an electron and optical microscope, macro photography brought us into a world that is already partially visible with the naked eye. To take macro photographs of insects, all you need is a camera and a high-quality macro lens, which can be purchased by any enthusiastic amateur photographer. But that does not make him a master in this field. This requires other qualities that Mrs. Veronika Souralová undoubtedly has: creativity, fantasy, imagination and, above all, patience.
During the lecture, Mrs. Souralová, the author of books with her own photographs such as "One Day in the Anthill", "Talking with Butterflies", "The Bee House" and "Tales from the Grass", shared with the audience her story about how she became a passionate observer under the influence of her father insects. Subsequently, the lecture focused on the fascinating world of ants on a macro scale, accompanied by the author's photographs.
Mrs. Souralová described her expeditions, during which she photographed both the impressive tropical Atta ants and the common Czech forest ants. Thanks to her narration and photographs, Ondřej Sekora's stories of Ferda the Ant came to life before the eyes of the audience, whether it was about building an anthill, aphid breeding or the ants' marauding expeditions after the cocoons of other colonies.
This time we were pleasantly surprised by the increased interest of the German audience, who joined the lecture online and for whom Mr. Vitvar again interpreted the lecture. This happened also thanks to the efforts of our German project partners from the Technical University of Chemnitz, who spread the information about the event among their colleagues, students and acquaintances. Targeted advertising on Facebook also contributed to the promotion of the event, which reached a wide audience in Germany and helped strengthen the international dimension of the InterBridge project.
In conclusion, we would like to thank Mrs. Souralová for her inspiring lecture and wish her much luck and success in her photographic work. We look forward to more books accompanied by her stunning photographs that open the door to the fascinating world of insects.
Hana Křížová
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