Many of us know Ras Mykkal as a dub poet and a sports photographer ? fast lyrics and quick pictures.

But Mr. Mykkal (pictured) has slowed down a little for this exhibition and called on the virtue of patience.

His exhibition ?Seeing the Unseen? opened on Thursday at the Horticultural Hall at the Botanical Gardens.

Mr. Mykkal stumbled on this project quite by mistake when he took his camera to the Botanical Gardens Butterfly Garden to clear his head.

What he discovered was beauty rarely seen or appreciated.

?The amount of things that go on all around us ... and we are so busy chasing next month?s deadline that we fail to realise what is going on around us.

?There are birds here that people aren?t even aware of, migrating birds and butterflies that simply fly in and fly out, which means travelling over 700 miles from the States.

?It is incredible to ride the winds from North Carolina, New York, New Jersey or wherever. There is one butterfly called the Red Admiral and it visits the Butterfly Garden, but it doesn?t lay eggs here, or take up residency. It is interesting to know and to photograph.?

The natural environment is something that he has always been curious about. He received a lot information from the staff and education officer Steve Burgess at the Botanical Gardens, although he said he also brought a few books and searched the Internet for information.

?I have found it a great joy figuring out how to shoot Bermuda wildlife. But Bermuda?s bird life and butterflies, bees and stuff like that are really very interesting especially at this time of year when the birds are nesting and raising their young.

?It is interesting to find the nest, not so that you can disturb it, but to observe it. Also looking at how long it takes to lay eggs until they are ready to fly, watching the parents teach the chicks how to fly and how to look for food.

?Bees are easy, but looking at butterflies and how they go through their cycle. To see what the caterpillar and cocoon looks like, what butterfly emerges from which cocoon, and what plant is the host plant.

?Even the life cycle of the toad, from the mating ritual, to the laying of eggs, the tadpole, and when it climbs out of the water and becomes a land dwelling animal.

?There are some flowers that attract flies and you have lizards and another strange insect in there catching flies. The different butterflies make all sorts of different cocoons.?

But what he has found really exciting is getting into their space.

?What has been really interesting is to get really close to them, knowing where they nest and their feeding habits.

?Some birds don?t eat seeds and some eat worms, lizards and bugs.

?It is time consuming and you need to have a lot of patience, the right equipment and you need to have the desire to do it and do it right.?

What visitors will see is the few perfect shots, explained Mr. Mykkal. ?When I shoot longtails, I might have taken 300 images and out of that I might get 70 good ones, but you will not see the mistakes, you are only going to see the best and this is not only with wildlife, but with photography period.

?It never happens right the first time and if I didn?t get the image that I am looking for today I?ll be out early the next day.

?The butterfly collage took four-and-a-half months to get all the right sequences. It took time, but it was fun.

?I am enjoying what I am doing and looking at the bigger picture. Just always looking to learn something new and to leave a good impression.?

When asked were most of the photos taken at the Botanical Gardens, Mr. Mykkal explained that most were, but some were also taken at the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo.

He also hiked through thick brush on the South Shore with a letter from Parks explaining the machete and a pair of binoculars.

?It was those types of things and it was not just about taking the pictures, there are a whole lot of other things that end up being involved.?

People that knew what he was doing would call him from all over the Island.

?I had firefighters in St. David?s who were looking out for giant centipedes because they pass through the Fire Station every so often. So I would go and dump it out in a rock bed and photograph it in its natural environment.

?I got quite a bit of help from one end of the Island to the other.?

He also received help from an unexpected source ? the Ministry of the Environment.

?I had all these photographs of longtails and bluebirds and the Minister of the Environment (Neletha Butterfield) asked if she could purchase one of my pieces,? he said.

?One day I was in her office showing her some of the new photos that I had shot and the staff asked, ?What do you do with all this stuff??

?So I said I just compile it, I would like to do a photo exhibition, but I don?t have the resources for that.

?They suggested that I apply for a grant, as they do stuff like that. So, they greatly assisted me because I received a $6,000 grant from the Department of the Environment to have the photo exhibition.

?Bermuda Bluepriniting did the printing and Frameworks is where I brought the frame kits and Parks suggested that I hold it at the Horticultural Hall. They told me to book a date and the Visitors? Service Bureau asked if they could have them on display for the month of June. ?So it mushroomed into something really nice and I am hoping that the Bermuda Audubon Society, the Bluebird Society and the general public would come out and see it.?

All the pieces are for sale and he has kept the prices at $400 and under.

Also part of the proceeds will go to Yusef Brimmer?s medical expenses. Mr. Bremmer became paralysed about two years ago when a tree that he was sitting under crushed him.

?I am trying to help someone else, while also showing what else I can do,? the photographer said.

Exhibition runs until today at the Horticultural Hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and can be seen during the month at the Visitors Service Bureau also in the Botanical Gardens.