A few weeks ago I had a really coll opportunity present itself. I was just walking down to the laundry room in my apartment complex when I almost stepped on a praying mantis. It was very surprising to see this little creature on the steps of the hallway to go downstairs. I didn't want him to get stepped on so after I put my clothes in the washer I grabbed a stick from the small garden in the complex courtyard and managed to get the little guy to climb on.
I walked over and placed him in one of the plant sections of the garden where he could make his home and hopefully survive. As I walked back to my apartment I figured I would grab my camera and record some clips since how often do I get to see a praying mantis (not very often).
So I grabbed my camera and went back down and spent some time filming. I figured I would film for 10-15 minutes and be done but I ended up filming this guy for almost 2 hrs. That's the life of a photographer/filmmaker for you, you think you'll spend a few minutes doing something and a few hours end up passing haha.
Anyway, I spent the next few days editing and going through all of the footage, and here are just a few of my favorite screen grabs from those clips. The praying mantis definitely wasn't super happy with me after a while even though I think I saved its life since I was sticking my lens really close to it and every now and then it would 100% give me a head turn and look at me. I must have been wondering what this giant lack object was.
At the end of the shoot, I did manage to get a really cool shot of the praying mantis hunting down, catching, and eating a fly. I felt like a nature documentary filmmaker or someone making a planet earth segment haha.
