It wasn’t until I’d been photo-bombed that I realized one of my latent goals. Since the beginning of my serious pursuit of photography, I’ve never really been able to capture the Mantis. Chicago isn’t really the place for them, however, despite the fact that the entire State of Illinois exists within their natural range. They aren’t city insects, for the most part. I’ve seen a few. Not many. More than one, but not as many as ten. On the day that I took this photo (yesterday) I didn’t expect to see one. And yet… I’d aimed my camera elsewhere. I was hunting for and creating stock images for more layered creations. This small person (an adolescent, at the very most) quite literally emerged into the shot I was making. There’s a particular, surreal quality to that emergence, and I’ll be posting that photo…soon. I’ve decided to post this one first, simply because I like it, and I’m surprised at how well it turned out, despite slight breeze blowing against the nearly-cooperative model. If I did a bit of research, I suspect I’d learn precisely what kind of mantid this little person happens to be, but I rather like the mystery. As this is a juvenile (at best) I somehow doubt that the adult will look substantially the same. The abdomen will grow more rotund; the wings will become somewhat more sleek…somewhat less likely to cause the poor little thing to go kiting off in strange directions at the merest hint of a breeze. Yesterday’s breeze was not substantial, but for something that is undoubtedly too small to hunt adult flies, a slight breeze can cause quite a hassle, and—indeed—the bulk of my mantis photos show a breeze-disturbed blur. This is one of the best, and the first (of 3 or 4) to appear in my gallery. I’d say more about this little creature, but as it stands, s/he’s in the process of inspiring other words: the body of a story, and so anything that I might say will undoubtedly come later, in the form of fiction. As always: thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.