Ever witnessed macro of snails sharing a searing kiss before? You’d be surprised at how romantic the scene actually looks, especially when they are stretching towards each other on cherry stalks in the middle of a tranquil river.
Macro photography gives reality whole new dimension. This area of photography has become so popular over the years that most of the recent creative awards in photography have been going to macro images. Macro photography basically involves capturing tiny, miniature objects or organisms and enlarging them beyond their 1:1 ratio. Essentially, you’re taking objects that would have been otherwise too tiny to be noticed and making them larger them life. Art has never been so stunning.
Ukrainian nature photographer Vyacheslav Mishchenko, 48, has been capturing macro worlds for a long as he can remember. His latest series would certainly “slow” your mind. Subjectively speaking, snails aren’t the most attractive creatures in nature. In fact, most of us wouldn’t pay them any attention, but Mishchenko created a world of pure magic where we can see things through the eyes of a snail. He photographs many tiny organisms, but snails are a particular favorite.
In 2014, Mishchenko won 1st place in Nature Category in the 2014 International Photography Awards (IPA) Competition with his snail series titled: “A Magical World Of Snails”.
According to Mishchenko, capturing minutiae worlds has been an age-long hobby.
“As a child, my father taught me to hunt mushrooms near my home and we would always come across all manner of bugs and creatures,” he told Daily Mail. “As I got older and my interest in photography grew, I decided I wanted to catch these magical scenes on camera. My father worked as a freelance photographer for the local newspapers. I observed his art and learned it.”
It’s unclear if Mishchenko’s ‘models’ are aware of their photoshoots, but they don’t seem to mind so much. He explains that he does not remove them from their natural habitats as they are best photographed in their elements. For this series, he used a Fujifilm Finepix S200EXR, his first digital camera.
He captured several snails living the dreamy life while kissing, reaching out to droplets of water falling from a strawberry, taking shade under a flower’s petals, nosing around bubbles on a river, chilling on mushrooms and reaching out to flowers.
“I photograph all insects but snails have touched my heart particularly. I think that snails are simply extraordinary not only in their shape and form but also in their beauty and behavior. They are magic creatures for me,” Mishchenko told Bored Panda. “I shoot all insects in their natural habitat. All the stories that you see in my photos exist in nature. It’s a question of luck to be in the right place at the right time. My goal is to show the beauty of the world around us.”
Mishchenko is an all-round creative who’s other interests include woodworking and appointing. He explains that these passions halted his journey as a photographer earlier in life.
“My family used to spend a lot of weekends camping in a beautiful forest. Thus photography and nature naturally entered my life,” he said. “I took my first macro shot when I was 10 years old. After getting married and having children, photography went by the wayside. Most of the time I spent on painting. With the advent of digital photography, I have renewed my passion for photography. I would advise a beginner photographer to be patient, to develop artistic taste, to be romantic and finally to love nature.”
See more of Mishchenko’s work on his Facebook Page: Vyacheslav Mishchenko @snails.space
