Macro studies of carnivorous plants and their victims

Carnivorous plants are highly adapted and close up reveal their beauty, their purpose, and their deadliness.

My purpose in creating these studies is to show the adaptations in a beautiful, alien kind of dreamscape and to contrast this with images of the prey. By keeping to predominantly green for the 'nice' images, and introducing red in the 'nasty' images, I have tried to highlight the dichotomy between the two views. I have used narrow depths of field to focus in on particular areas, allowing the areas of unfocus to provide background, colour and a sense of unease as we can't identify what's out there.

A butterwort, with fleshy leaves carrying special stalks, each one topped with a blob of sticky mucilage, waiting for an insect to land. As it struggles, more mucilage is secreted, holding it fast to face its fate of digestion by the plant.

A sundew with similar adaptations but a very different form. It would be at home in an alien landscape.

A different butterwort claims another victim. This type of carnivorous plant is often referred to as a 'flypaper' type of plant. They can be grown in pots indoors very successfully and are helpful for keeping unwanted insects at bay.

A pitcher plant, which relies on insects being attracted to it then falling in and being unable to escape. The fly in the second image died outside the plant and was staged inside it because the form of the plant prevents capture of the trapped insects inside.

A Venus flytrap - probably what most people think of first in the carnivorous plant world. When triggered by movement against sensors, the trap closes on the unfortunate insect and then digests it.

A sundew showing its nascent stalks as it unfurls, coupled with a view of a successful capture