Metawave

Manifesto

Bugs

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Bugs is a generative study of the microwild — an atlas of insects rendered with photographic care, where strict anatomical realism meets the intimacy of macro lenses.

A hidden world at human scale

We live among insects without really seeing them. In the space of a single garden there may be more lives unfolding than we can count — pollinators, predators, cleaners, decomposers — each with its own textures, colours and micro-histories. Bugs is an attempt to pay attention.

Rather than stylising or anthropomorphising these creatures, the collection treats them as they are: small, exact, astonishing. The camera becomes our point of empathy. By moving close enough to see the patterning on a wing or the hairs on a leg, we are invited to notice that there is nothing "lesser" about small life. It is simply happening at another scale.

Traits as a photographic brief

In Bugs, traits do not decorate a character; they specify a shot.

Species defines the subject — ladybird, bee, hoverfly, dragonfly, butterfly, beetle, ant and more. Environment describes where we find it: perched on a stem, resting on a petal, exploring moss, clinging to bark, visiting a water edge. Time of day and lighting determine the palette and contrast: morning haze, soft overcast, golden hour, backlit wings, deep shade.

Pose and focus traits decide whether we see a full-body profile, a frontal portrait, a wing spread in mid-flight or a side view of feeding. Surface-detail traits bring the world into contact with the insect: dew droplets, dust, pollen, tiny strands of web.

Realism as a discipline

The style of Bugs is ultra-realistic macro photography. This is a constraint, not an afterthought. The insects must remain anatomically correct: no extra legs, no missing antennae, no melted or fantastical anatomy unless explicitly marked as a rare legendary variant. The sense of wonder comes not from bending biology, but from seeing biology clearly.

By insisting on realism, Bugs explores how generative systems can serve observation rather than escape from it. The collection is not about escaping the real world, but about kneeling down closer to it and discovering that even within a few square metres of garden, there is a universe of form, colour and movement worth looking at.

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