Crawlers creep into the lights

Photographer Bruce Brown finds the construction of insects “so intricate and so bizarre – yet strangely elegant”.

He collected them as a child, then got distracted en route to achieving an international reputation as a still-life photographer for clients such as Benson & Hedges, Courvoisier and Fiat.

But they crawled back into Brown’s life in the mid-Eighties after he broke his neck and back, becoming partially paralysed from the neck down.

“While I was in hospital my world – which had always been so full of wide open spaces – suddenly became much smaller,” says Brown. “I began to take a fresh look at small objects and tiny creatures in nature.”

He’s created a new technique for lighting creepy-crawlies which he won’t reveal, as it took him two years to develop. “It’s a technological breakthrough and he’s keeping it secret,” says his spokeswoman.

His exhibition, Metamorphosis, can be seen at The Association of Photographers, 9-10 Domingo Street, London EC1 from 6 to 10 November, and he’s holding a workshop on the evening of 9 November. For further information call 01858 525600.