Insects and flowers photographed through a 4x microscope objective attached to a camera.
Because the objective's depth of field is so narrow, the camera had to be mounted to a focus stacking rig, which takes a series of 100-200 photos, moving a tiny amount closer to the subject each time. I then combined these photos in a focus stacking software to create each final image.

I like how ethereal and otherworldy organic structures are up close. The bright flash lighting and algorithmic way the focus stacking software combines the images further contributes to the strange aesthetic, as if the lens and computer are capturing more than what is really there.

The book is bound in a unique way, where pages of different ratios and sizes are layered together, making reading the book feel like a journey. I structured it this way because I wanted the images to be as large as possible and was limited to SRA3 sized paper. I think having this creative constraint ultimately enhanced the project. Scroll all the way to the bottom to see images of the book.

This photo book is an extension of the techniques I used in my 2022 film This Bug is Not a Bug.