explorewithdara

explorewithdara 🇳🇬🇨🇦 Changing how the world sees the smallest lives
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Looks like a Mamba? No, this not the beautiful green African mamba but Chironius scurrulus a non venomous snake! The bea...
06/02/2026

Looks like a Mamba?

No, this not the beautiful green African mamba but Chironius scurrulus a non venomous snake! The beauty of the green and blue on this snake made it irresistible to take a photo. Thanks to Alex Bentley at .amazonia for finding this snake on his property and helping with identifying it.

China. Nigeria. Mexico. Canada. And Costa Rica, which does not ease you in gently. The arthropod diversity there is stag...
05/22/2026

China. Nigeria. Mexico. Canada. And Costa Rica, which does not ease you in gently. The arthropod diversity there is staggering in a way that stays with you, the kind of overwhelming abundance that makes the stakes of biodiversity loss feel entirely concrete rather than abstract. Across every one of these places I have carried a camera and a genuine need to understand what I was looking at, and the conclusion has always been the same: this is local action. Every park, every field season, every image shared is a contribution to something larger than any one country or any one photographer. Today is International Biodiversity Day. The global goals are clear. The work happens where you are.

Edmonton is home, and it is not what most people picture when they think about biodiversity hotspots. The surprise is th...
05/21/2026

Edmonton is home, and it is not what most people picture when they think about biodiversity hotspots. The surprise is this: it holds the largest urban green space in North America, and I have spent the better part of a year pushing into almost every corner of it with a macro lens. What I keep finding is the same thing: thriving, interconnected arthropod communities doing the quiet, essential work that holds ecosystems together. Local action looks like this. It looks like knowing what lives in your own backyard and deciding it is worth protecting.

Nigeria gave me my first real language for insects. Returning there to shoot felt less like fieldwork and more like a ho...
05/20/2026

Nigeria gave me my first real language for insects. Returning there to shoot felt less like fieldwork and more like a homecoming, a reminder that the biodiversity I now dedicate my life to was always there, long before I had a camera or the vocabulary to name it. Mexico handed me the same humility through a different landscape. In both places, the message was identical: local ecosystems are not waiting to be discovered. They are already doing the work. That is our shared responsibility to protect.

When I lived in China, I would leave work and head straight to the nearest park, drawn to the green margins where the ci...
05/19/2026

When I lived in China, I would leave work and head straight to the nearest park, drawn to the green margins where the city gave way to something older, stranger, and more patient. Beneath the surface of an ordinary urban space, entire worlds unfolded, each one a reminder that biodiversity does not wait for wilderness reserves. It lives in the cracks, the roots, the still water, and the unremarkable leaf. Acting locally has never meant acting small. Every urban park holds the potential for biodiversity stewardship. Every country you call home is an invitation to look closer.

Biodiversity has never been an abstract concept for me. It is something I have encountered up close, in parks & forests ...
05/18/2026

Biodiversity has never been an abstract concept for me. It is something I have encountered up close, in parks & forests in China, in the forests of Nigeria and Mexico, in the overwhelming density of life in Costa Rica, and in the urban green spaces of Edmonton, where I currently live and work. I am Dara Ojo, a conservation photographer, and for the past several years I have dedicated my practice to documenting arthropods, the insects, spiders, and invertebrates that hold ecosystems together and rarely receive the attention they deserve.

This International Biodiversity Day, I am collaborating with UN Biodiversity to mark the occasion through images from the countries I have called home and the field. Over the next four days, each post will carry a photograph and a reflection tied to this year’s theme: acting locally for global impact. The work begins where you are. It always has.

05/17/2026

One macro photo can take hundreds of images behind the scenes.

When you shoot like that often, files add up fast. I needed a faster way to back up my photography, clear space, and keep shooting without slowing down.

That’s where the SANDISK Extreme Portable SSD has become part of my workflow. Fast transfer speeds, portable enough to throw in my bag, and reliable when I’m moving between shoots.

The best part? I don’t need to replace my laptop just because I’m running out of space.

Don’t upgrade your device. Upgrade your storage with Sandisk.

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