Real life “Ant-Man” Adobe Stock photographer Andrey Pavlov has one of the most thematically dedicated and unique portfolios—he specializes in the photography of ants in fairytale-like situations.
Unbelievably, despite the photos looking as if they’ve been created using Adobe Photoshop CC or staged using dead ants, Parlov actually photographs the ants while they interact with his purposefully created miniature stage sets.
We spoke to him to gain a fascinating insight into the inspiration and dedication behind his work as well as the artistic relationship he has with his creepy crawly subjects:
I live in the country, close to the town of Viborg in Denmark and in winter I live in St. Petersbourg. In 2008 I started walking again after having been bed-bound for almost three years; while unwell, I made friends with ants and now all my time is dedicated to Ant Tales.
Macro photography is my photographic style. It’s been continuously influenced by my wish to shoot my small friends for myself in my own eclectic style, as well as to sell my photographs.
The style that is represented in many of my “Ant Tales” photos is similar to what you may find in traditional Russian comic books.
The tales about ants are my most famous photographs and are quite well-known on the Internet (Ant Stories), however on stock websites, stock-oriented images are of a bigger value—with a minimal story or without it at all. Although from all the Ant Tales, the one featuring the concept of “teamwork” sells the best on stock sites—since ants are the most advanced earth inhabitants when it comes to teamwork.
When I started trying to work with stock photography I had no style at all, I was just discovering digital photography. I’m still amazed by how well-accepted my first photographs were. More and more often however I shoot photos for children, the main thing I want to show is that size does not make kindness and tenderness in nature, and the world around us, less amazing.
Thank you so much to Andrey for taking the time to share his photographic journey. To check out more of his fabulous images head over to his Adobe Stock portfolio and his website.