If you have never tried it, you probably can’t even understand it. People set out for new worlds to distant lands, deep forests, submarine depths, searching for other extraterrestrial worlds. At the same time, we find literally a different universe right under our feet. On every lawn, on every tree, in some piece of reed, even in the parking lot in front of the house or on the window sill of our apartment building. The insect world is on the verge of our discernment. Its large part even beyond this limit. Even so distant and mysterious to ours that we know almost nothing about most species of this parallel universe. Most people don’t even know there is one. He is only fleetingly aware of it sometimes when he sees colorful butterflies.

Only when we enlarge the few millimeter creatures to a size that is more pleasing to our eyes can we be amazed at the world that opens up before us. And they are really like creatures from another planet. Not only do we find that they are beautiful, that they are real predators of their world, that they interact with us. Their way of life, their adaptation to the environment, their way of defense, hunting and reproduction are also fascinating. Their development cycle is often so complex that to this day we know little or nothing about it.

All these circumstances led me to be more interested in photography, and especially in capturing interesting scenes from the life of insects. It’s not entirely about photographing beautiful, colorful butterflies on blooming flowers, or glittering dragonflies with reflections of the sun’s rays on the water surface. From the point of view of very interesting behavior and way of life, I was most interested in spiders, hymenoptera and ants.

However, first you need to prepare thoroughly. And learn to take those nice and best-made photos. I used the second opportunity to participate in the photographic macro-workshop of the master of my field Pavel Krásenský macrophotography.cz. This time we did not meet in the amazing nature of South Moravia, but in the no less beautiful environment of the Bohemian Central Mountains. Care in taking photos is necessary especially for further postprocessing. A composite photo, which appeals to me very much, can only be created with really precisely executed partial photos. As part of the weekend stay, we visited several locations in the vicinity of the villages of Kocourov, Milešov, the protected area of Radobýl and also completed night photography in the immediate vicinity of the pension.

The gradual penetration into a parallel world, which can still be captured by the macro technique, never ends. It is a permanent process. It is never possible to capture all the interesting moments from insect life. It’s the perfect way to get original photos without having to travel or spend endless hours waiting for something much larger to capture, such as mammals or birds. It is a completely different discipline. And it is clearly a good preparation for a time when the photographer, due to his advanced age, will no longer go beyond his own garden. And something interesting will always happen there.