creepy-crawly-heebie-jeebies

may i present the mind-blowing entymological photography of igor siwanowicz… say no more!

i love critters

i must apolgise for my recent disappearance from the world of the sometimes zoo.  this year is proving to be one of the most challenging yet (and yes, i am well aware it is only february!).

now anyone who visits this little blog regularly (and many thanks to those who do), will know of my love for all critters: feathered, scaley, squishy, furry, microscopic or monstrous.  so i thought what better way to return on a monday morning than with a collection of a few creatures…

elephant shrew

spanish moon moth

fruit bat

black bear

caterpillar

three-horned chameleon

{click on images for their sources}

little sparks of magic

i have a soft spot for fireflies (but then who doesn’t?) and these amazing images, taken in the chugoku region of japan, have simply fueled my desire to track some down and unleash my imagination & camera on them…

beautiful little mutants

“these radiant works of scientific illustrator cornelia hesse-honegger examine nature’s oft-neglected fragility as well as its unstoppable strength. Since the catastrophe of chernobyl, hesse-honegger has collected morphologically disturbed insects, transforming their mutations into painted pieces of bold, graphic beauty.”

Information on her new book featuring silk designs with fabric can be found at wissenskunst.ch.

kaleidoscopic creepy-crawlies

i thought would share this entymological find with you.  these amazing insect photographs are from this archive.  in my opinion, marveling at their multifacted, metallic armour is a good way to start any day!

chasing dragons

i have been stalking dragonflies again…a whole weekend of chasing, leaping, slow-footed sneaking and maddening manual focus on my camera!  but i think i am slowly honing my skills, using a very average lens (a decent 300mm lens is on my birthday list) and getting better at determining my best focus in crazy time constraints : these little guys do not stay still for long!

trails of fire…

amazing, long exposure images of fireflies by full-time physicist and part-time photographer, kristian cvecek.

have you seen this moth…?

{via pinterest}

…because it’s awesome!

 

yellowjacks & phantom flutterers

i have recently taken up the exciting pursuit of dragonfly identification!  they are wonderfully photogenic creatures and these recent photographs i took during the summer holiday, skirting the edges of dams and forests…

red-veined dropwing (female)

red-veined dropwing (female)

jaunty dropwing (female)

black-tailed skimmer

phantom flutterer

yellowjack

six-legged jewels

these glittering displays of creepy-crawlies by christopher marley remind me of sugar-coated, sweet-tooth temptations or something a dragon would happily sleep upon…

botanical bugs

i have many a bug-loving bone in my body and when i saw this gorgeous work on etsy, it was immediately inscribed on my wishlist…

spaceship graveyard

how amazing is this!  in Siberia, spaceships fall from the sky.  photographer jonas bendiksen took this photo of some space junk collectors surrounded by a rabble of white butterflies….i want to be a “space junk collector”!

celebration fireflies

this is a whimsical wedding invitation design i have just completed for a wonderful capetonian couple…

(front)

(inside details)

(back)

creatures great & small

styling by shona heath

delicate origami crane by kekremsi

image via elephantnotes tumblr

image source unknown

fantastic mr fox storyboard art

bees are awesome…

this amazing little petal nest is the handywork of the osmia avoceta bee of Turkey.  it builds a nest of petals & mud around a single egg to protect it whilst it develops. i think it one of the most beautiful natural ‘artworks’ I’ve seen…

read more…

Lepidopterology

amazing moth scans by Joseph Scheer

clockwork entomology

clockwork creepy-crawlies from the magicians at Mike Libby’s Insect Lab