Beauty in Motion: The Wonders of Insect Photography and Conservation

Yesterday was a day I will cherish for a long time. Through RaumArs A-i-R, I was given the opportunity to speak in Rauma (Finland) about my passion - insects and insect photography. The past few years have been disheartening as I have watched the number of insects around us dwindle drastically. It's hard to not to notice the absence of bees that not long ago swarmed the fields, rising as clouds as I walked through the summer fields.

I present photo of a bee and grass hopper

Determined to bring attention to this issue, I started capturing live insects in their natural habitats through my lens. I wanted to show other their beauty and character. I especially focused on insects in motion. It has led me to develop various techniques and tricks to photograph these creatures, such as the way of using flash, the balance between zoom and macro lenses, especially when the depth of field is as little as one or two millimetres.

me giving insect photography lecture

But what I love most about insect photography is that the learning never stops. Did you know that we have only identified one million species of insects, and – according to experts – there are still nine million more species waiting to be discovered? And even the most common insects still have so much to teach us, with behaviours and interactions that even the experts haven't seen.

In my presentation, I shared my discovery of bees and grasshoppers communicating with each other through visual signals, despite being such vastly different species. It's incredible to think that these tiny creatures, with less than a million neurons, can understand each other, while we, with our 100 billion neurons, often struggle to understand any species that is not human.

A bee attacking a grasshopper

I am grateful to RaumArs Artist in Residence Programme for giving me this platform to share my passion and spread awareness about the importance of insects. Let's continue to learn from these fascinating creatures and cherish their presence and do our best to ensure they do not disappear forever.

You can see more of my insect photos at this site. And please always feel free to contact me here if you have any questions, want to discuss nature and photography, or if you are interested in my art.

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