“I remember the first insect image I got,” says Clancy, describing a moment during her MSc in Biological Photography and Imaging. “I was really trying to get this heron on the other side of the river and I was going nowhere and this thing flew past me. It was just on a whim, I stuck on my micro lens and scooted up and got it. Once I zoomed in I was like ‘Jesus, this thing is so ugly.’ Really grotesque. Far more interesting than a heron.”
That moment led to a PhD in Insect Behaviour and years of field photography, much of it shot in the Burren and surrounding counties. The result is a book that blends macro portraits with storytelling, highlighting the wild, often bizarre lives of Ireland’s smallest creatures.
One shot of a speckled yellow moth became a turning point for the project. “It’s a day-flying moth and it has really dark colours. Just the way the flash caught it, it was really warm, so it looked like an oil painting portrait. He had this character, this expression. I got a kind of statesman-like quality off him.”
That theatrical quality set the tone. “Showing insects in this grandeur became the new goal then,” Clancy explains. “Originally I was going to put a few little statements with each image just talking about each one but then I read the story about the large blue butterfly which was the coolest story I have ever heard… I thought, I want to put in stories about them, but not stuff that is readily Googleable.”
The result is a book packed with lesser-known tales of mimicry, deception, and insect romance. “It’s very adult,” she says. “It’s like an episode of EastEnders.”
Some of the book’s most surreal stories involve flowers that mimic the scent of rotting flesh to trick pollinators. “So it’s basically saying ‘I am a freshly killed carcass, come on over,’” says Clancy. “The insects fly over, it gets its pollen, travels, and they all move on.”
But getting the shots wasn’t always glamorous. Clancy describes lying in marshes and swamps to capture the right angles. “Some images were gruelling,” she says. “Other times I would turn around and the insect I was looking for was waiting on a leaf for me.”
The process could feel surprisingly personal. “You could spend up to 20 minutes with a subject and there is definitely some communication and an exchange,” she says. “Some of them are really sweet and they photograph really sweet, especially the ones that are just relaxing and they are drunk on pollen.”
Technically, she aimed for clean backgrounds and crystal-clear eyes. “The eyeball was the big goal for me. Once the eyeball was lit well and no big gaudy flash marks on it I was happy.”
Insect portraits aims to balance science and storytelling, art and humour. “It’s entertaining, it’s kinda funny, and it’s strangely relatable,” she says. “You get two sorts of reactions: people who just like the images—I think that’s usually insect photographers because they know the work that goes into it—and then there’s other people who aren’t too interested in the insects but they like the stories. I like that. I like that it’s kind of hitting both sides.”
The official launch on Insect Portraits by Lisa Clancy took place in The Black Gate Theatre, Galway at 8pm on May 22. The book is now available in stores.
