Tag Archives: bugs

Photos: Glorious Bugs

Laurie says:

I was amazed and delighted by these  photos of dew-encrusted insects by photographer Miroslaw Swietek. His images for me have both the beauty of microphotography and the aesthetics of Faberge.
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Images and text are from the Daily Mail in England.

Glistening in the early morning, these insects look like creatures from another planet as dew gathers on their sleeping bodies.  Captured in extreme close-up, one moth appears to be totally encrusted in diamonds as it rests on a twig.  Dragonflies, flies and beetles also take on an unearthly quality as the water droplets form on them.  These remarkable photographs were taken by physiotherapist Miroslaw Swietek at around 3am in the forest next to his home.  Using a torch, the 37-year-old amateur photographer hunts out the motionless bugs in the darkness before setting up his camera and flash just millimetres from them.

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Mr Swietek said: ‘I took up photography as a relaxing hobby two and a half years ago and I particularly like taking pictures of insects and lizards.  I photograph them in their natural environment in the forest next to my village.  They all are covered in dew because I go to the forest in the morning at around 3am.  At 3am to 4am insects are sleepy and taking photos of them is easy, but it is very difficult to find them.  You must be very fast taking the photos because the dew quickly disappears.  It is very satisfying getting a good shot of an insect which I have had to hunt out.  I have books which help my identify insects but because they are all covered in dew I find it almost impossible to know which types they are.’

Although insects do not ‘sleep’ in the same sense as humans, they enter a state of torpor where they are virtually immobile and much less sensitive to external stimuli.

Mr Swietek lives with his wife and teenage son in Jaroszow, a village in Poland around 30 miles from the city of Wroclaw.

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Thanks to Carol Squires for pointing me to the glorious bugs.