The insect world is a fascinating place where you are almost guaranteed to experience the bizarre and nearly alien. I constantly keep my eyes open for insects when taking walks because insects are everywhere and often perfect subjects for photography.

The insects here are some flies and bees I photographed in the Summer of 2002.

Perhaps my favorite is the large, hairy fly that almost looks like a bumble bee (which I now know to be a Robber Fly thanks to Simeon Gilmer). The creature was like a B-52 of insects--it buzzed loudly and bent leaves down when it landed. When I first saw it I was falling over myself to get a good picture. Luckily, he was fairly brave, and I got several high-fidelity close-ups.

I also loved the red-eyed fly. I wanted a shot of this guy so much I endured his biting--in this image he was biting my knuckle.

I have some great wasp shots I'll add to this page as soon as I can find them from my archive.