honorable mention
Jake Mosher united states
title
The Sunset Moth
These photographs are the composition of hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of 4:1 macro stacks of small sections from a single sunset moth's wings. I reposition, replicate, mirror, and expand and contract photos to form the geometric patterns seen here. I never alter color, import any foreign designs, or do any sort of drawing on these images. They are purely photographs from arguable the world's most colorful insect.
I create these on the floor of my small apartment's kitchen, weighing my tripod down with a 35lbs dumbbell, lighting the moth's wing with a flashlight, and using a manual focusing rail to obtain depth of field and proper focus across the image. From there, I begin a painstaking process of aligning hundreds of photos to a finished design that remains symmetrical, either up and down or left and right, to the pixel. These photos are a tribute to the wonders of our magnificent natural world, and the full-size versions of these are literally approaching billboard size.
Mosher believes that now, perhaps more than ever, the world needs the beauty of art, and he hopes that his images will inspire people to pause, look around, and understand there is so much worth seeing. A self-taught naturalist, Mosher is convinced that nothing in nature is ordinary and that the Earth, particularly off the beaten path, is a wonderful thing to behold.
Shooting primarily in the Rocky Mountains, Mosher is happiest when he's in remote country with his camera.
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entry description
This project is the culmination of a life-long love of butterflies and moths, a desire to push the bounds in photography, and a belief that the natural world is full of beauty.These photographs are the composition of hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of 4:1 macro stacks of small sections from a single sunset moth's wings. I reposition, replicate, mirror, and expand and contract photos to form the geometric patterns seen here. I never alter color, import any foreign designs, or do any sort of drawing on these images. They are purely photographs from arguable the world's most colorful insect.
I create these on the floor of my small apartment's kitchen, weighing my tripod down with a 35lbs dumbbell, lighting the moth's wing with a flashlight, and using a manual focusing rail to obtain depth of field and proper focus across the image. From there, I begin a painstaking process of aligning hundreds of photos to a finished design that remains symmetrical, either up and down or left and right, to the pixel. These photos are a tribute to the wonders of our magnificent natural world, and the full-size versions of these are literally approaching billboard size.
about the photographer
Jake Mosher grew up in Northern Vermont and has lived in Montana for almost 25 years. He has worked as everything from a published novelist, to a prize fighter, to an explosives engineer, walking away from corporate America in the fall of 2017 to pursue his photography full-time.Mosher believes that now, perhaps more than ever, the world needs the beauty of art, and he hopes that his images will inspire people to pause, look around, and understand there is so much worth seeing. A self-taught naturalist, Mosher is convinced that nothing in nature is ordinary and that the Earth, particularly off the beaten path, is a wonderful thing to behold.
Shooting primarily in the Rocky Mountains, Mosher is happiest when he's in remote country with his camera.
back to gallery
