About

The Blogger: Troy Bartlett

Interests

I enjoy taking photographs of interesting things I come across. Though I take the photography seriously, it’s more a means than an end. Looking over the photographs afterwards and researching the things I’ve found is even more rewarding. The two activities enhance each other, with the things I learn about at home giving me new things to look for on my next outing. Sharing here both the photographs and the natural histories behind them adds a whole other dimension to the experience.

Web Presence

I first started publishing my photographs to the web in early 1999. That site, Troy’s Photo Gallery, was a blog of sorts before that term became popular. I continued updating Troy’s Photo Gallery through 2003, until I started developing BugGuide, a community for fellow naturalists devoted specifically to arthropods. Within a few years that site was really taking off, and was becoming too much for me to manage. In 2006 I turned the site over to Iowa State University who now maintains it. I took some time off from web publishing after that, but I’m happy to be back.

Profession and Education

I’m a software developer by trade and a professional photographer on the side. I currently work for Elavon.

In 1994 I finished up a dual-degree program, earning myself a Bachelor of Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from Oglethorpe University. Though knowledgeable in various nature studies, I have no formal education in them. I’m more of a citizen scientist.

Location

I’m a Georgia native. My wife and I currently live in Roswell, a suburb North of Atlanta.

The Blog: Nature Closeups

Title and Vision

First off, I know that technically “close-up” is hyphenated. But it’s often written without it, so I’m taking that license here if for no other reason than to avoid confusion when entering the domain name.

The word “closeup” has a couple of meanings to me, both of which apply here. The obvious one is that of a closeup photograph, one taken at close range so as to magnify the subject. The other one would be of an in-depth description, like a magazine might do on a celebrity. My goal here is not just to show my macro nature photography, but to try to offer some details behind the photo. In some cases, the photos will just be secondary to the topic.

Content

I travel as often as I can, and my trips often focus on nature photography. My wife is from Brazil, so I travel there regularly and that should explain any disproportionate amount of Brazilian fauna. You can also expect to see lots of photographs from my backyard and local environs. While I’ll try to keep up on current stuff, I expect to be posting lots of unpublished content from prior trips.