Mini Voltigeurs

Presentation

Ghislain SIMARD

France

http://www.simpho.com

Photographs

Insects have been the passion of Ghislain Simard since childhood. His father, himself a butterfly collector, introduced him to their magnificent wings. in the early 90’s, he discovered the work of the English photographer Stephen Dalton, master and precursor of high-speed photography. He decided to embark on the almost impossible mission of photographing insects during flight. He developed his own equipment at the Optics Laboratory of Besancon in France while pursuing his engineering degree. Today, 30 years later, he is known as an expert in high-speed photography. Author of several books (En vol, Libellules, Speed Flyers, and recently L’Effet Papillon), he shares his technical skills in the “Secrets of photographers” collection published by Eyrolles and in the photographic press, especially in Nat’Images and Chasseur d’Images magazines.

Exposition

2023 4 | Haras Site extérieur

Insects have developed very efficient flight techniques. Their wings are a perfect compromise between strength, rigidity, flex and weight. While aeronautical engineers try to limit turbulence, insects voluntarily cause and use it: they create an air circulation around their wings which produces a significant upward force. Small flapping wings are more like the blades of a rotor than an airplane wing. But unlike a rotor, insect wings work in three dimensions of space. Depending on the type of flight, they follow ellipses and the orientation of the wings changes during the flapping. One could say that the insect looks like a helicopter which would have a rotor whose each blade would be tiltable and deformable in order to vary the angle of its leading edge during each rotation.