I remember as a child idly gazing out the car window at an intersection as we waited for the light to change. Suddenly, I had the startling revelation that the cars flanking ours were not merely a part of the passing landscape, but vessels containing people who were in the midst of a life as vivid and complex and important to them as my own was to me. Even more astonishing to me was the thought that to them, I was as inconsequential as they had been to me only moments before.

I’ve been reliving that experience with my new macro lens. A whole kingdom of living beings that are normally insignificant, and even invisible to me have suddenly become the focus of my attention. Through my macro lens I experience the shock of seeing miniature life and death dramas playing out as if on a big screen. I see eyeballs staring up at me, hairy legs, luxurious bumblebee fur, delicate antennae…The macro lens bridges our separate worlds, making it so that the insects and I are fellow travelers at an intersection, waiting for the light to change.

As the spider quickly encased a smaller insect in its web, a larger bug struggled to free himself.