Even from a young age, raised in a small Cornish village, I was obsessed with insects, much to my parents' displeasure. Yet my parents understood that while some kids liked to play with their tractors, or show how high they could do on their swing, I on the other hand presented them with a woodlouse while they were in bed. At around 12 I started to play with my mum's camera, photographing everything I could. It wasn't until I got my first motorbike that I started to take photography seriously. Being able to travel far and wide to places I had never seen before, I wanted to document them. What turned from documentation turned into art. Yet Landscape didn't enthral me much, it was only when I managed to photograph a sawtail that I found my true love of macro photography.
Sadly like many do, I didn't see how being a creative could pay, so I chose the more sensible option, and studied animal care and welfare. I became fascinated with parasites, due to their macabre beauty, as well as the diversity of animals. I gained a lot from the course, especially from a behavioural side, which spills out into my photography. The ability to work with the animals' behaviour has enabled me to get close to flighty insects, however for me that's not my favourite part of my macro. For me it's the ability to be able to catch behaviours that would commonly get ignored, from reproduction, parental care and eating. This is what enthrals me about macro, the chance of catching a story, from Hoverfly larva eating an Aphid, or the parental care of an aptly named Parent bug.Being able to show people the eyes of a horsefly, with its beautiful colours, more colourful than spilled oil, or the intricate wing veins of a mayfly, as if a map of a city never known. To me photography can open up a world which few explore. With time, patience and love I am able to photograph them, till what was barely visible, is now printed thousands of times bigger, to show their beauty, life and death.
