Dance of the Craneflies

At this time of year the kitchen is  a magnet for crane flies and at night, if the window is left ajar, they clamber inside and head for the one light.

It's a love hotel for daddy long-legs. 

While I'm not over fond of them flitting about my head, they make the most incredible shapes in their courtship dances. 

My object was to capture the detail of my little short lived companions, as they danced their way through their brief existence. But I found the 'mistakes' even more attractive, and while the dim light meant 'off' colours, it simply added to the atmosphere

Where my camera could only catch traces of wing movement, graceful scatterings appeared. And with a bit of dickering about in Photoshop, the results are even artistic.

I can't help but imagine these images reproduced on huge canvases with somewhat pompous and meaningless titles such as 'We Are Building a New Kingdom'

or  'Towards the Celestial Light'

or even, ooh, I don't know, how about 'Within all of us - the Apocalypse!'

They would be displayed in the kind of understated but expensive foyers found in modernist buildings in the financial districts of large cities. Perhaps people would look at them and ponder the meaning behind the shadows.