CREATIVE BUTTERFLY PHOTOGRAPHY
Pushing the boundaries of technology, and his own capabilities, has led Andrew Fusek Peters to create a butterfly book like no other. Here he talks to Tracy Calder about fragility, flight and the importance of hairy eyes
Andrew Fusek Peters is a wildlife and landscape photographer based in South Shropshire. His photos regularly appear in the national papers and magazines, and he is on commission to the National Trust documenting the wildlife on the Long Mynd. His books include Hill & Dale, My Shropshire Year, Upland and Butterfly Safari. Andrew is an OM System brand ambassador. See www.fusekphotos.com and follow him on Instagram @andrewfusekpeters
As Isit down to chat with Andrew Fusek Peters about his new book, Butterfly Safari, there are many questions I want to ask him, but one in particular has been bugging me since I saw one of his extreme close-ups of a Speckled Wood. ‘Why do some species of butterfly have hairy eyes?’ I blurt out. ‘There’s a theory that because they like faeces they don’t want to be dunking their eyes in it, so the hairs prevent them from getting too close,’ he laughs. ‘They’re so weird.’ There’s so much we still don’t know about butterfly behaviour, but books like Andrew’s are perfect for sparking curiosity and, ultimately, aiding conservation efforts. Having spent the best part of five years travelling around the UK observing and photographing these slim-bodied insects, Andrew is clearly bewitched. ‘I know butterflies are called lepidoptera, which means scaly wing, but when you look closely at the antennae of a Small Tortoiseshell even that is covered in thousands of scales,’ he explains. ‘It’s insane!’
Idea for a project
Andrew began his butterfly odyssey in 2018, in the midst of a serious health crisis. ‘I had been diagnosed with bowel cancer, and I was really quite ill,’ he reveals. ‘While I was waiting for surgery, I sat in my garden and watched the butterflies come and go.’ As he observed these fascinating animals, he identified a correlation between his own condition and their wonderful blend of strength and vulnerability. ‘There was a fragility about them, but there was also life, flight and hope,’ he recalls. This observation proved inspiring, and it wasn’t long before an idea for a project began to form in his mind. ‘I started to wonder why nobody was photographing butterflies in flight,’ he recalls. ‘I’m not saying it had never been done before, but I hadn’t really seen it.’ Andrew’s question was answered when he attempted the technique himself. ‘Butterflies can take off in any direction,’ he laughs. ‘It’s a total nightmare
