This series is called Fallen Angels. After spending several years on my book Butterflies in Flight, I was left with the specimens of six hundred of the world’s most colorful butterflies.

The majority of these were donated to elementary schools for study, but some were duplicates or damaged. I mounted the wings of those in a large picture frame and flattened them under glass.

I would study the textures and shapes each day in the studio under the skylight and look for interesting combinations of patterns and colors. The scale of these photos are the size of a couple of postage stamps.

When you study nature daily, you soon discover that every possible artistic design imaginable to woman/man has been preceded by the natural world. At best, you can pay homage to it.

P.S. No butterflies were harmed in the making of these photographs. They were removed from the forest floor after dying naturally.