The Adventures of Mr. Fly’

Nicholas admits shooting Mr. Fly isn’t easy. The number one question on most people’s minds when looking at his series is whether the fly is dead or alive. Nicholas assures us the fly is alive. He’s, however, very secretive about how exactly he gets it to pose!You have to be really patient to do this kind of macro photography.” Nicholas says. “I had to literally take hundreds of photos just to get one good photo. I [generally] set up the scene, move the objects the way I want them, and step back to my camera … in that little time span — which is like two seconds — the fly can move or start walking away, so it can be really hard for me. I always have to go back, try to shoot it again, or shoot it from a different angle.”
The Flickr community picked up on Nicholas’ series as soon as he first posted it in 2007; many eagerly awaiting more photos. Mr. Fly got some press coverage throughout the entire world and even ended up in English grammar books.
Nicholas’ goal for this series was to make people laugh but also reflect about the world around them.I wanted to make people look at things in a different way,” Nicholas explains. “Sure, you see flies every day, but do you look at them in wonder? In my eyes, Mr. Fly is a metaphor for all the things we get used to … the things we walk past every day, the things we hardly notice. But all of these things deserve some attention too, and we shouldn’t take so many things for granted.”