On both OpenSea and here on this website, you can find my collection Backyard Bugs. Just like the description in both places states, the collection takes the smallest of creatures and presents them in larger than life proportions.

Before all of this started, I would look forward to walking the beach in the mornings before going into the office, snapping photos of sunrise or my beachcombing finds. When these feelings first started coming up over the summer, though, I went through a period where, despite packing my camera and taking it with me every morning before work, I would just drive. There were no beach walks. No sunrises. Really, there was no photography going on.

Even when I was feeling down, I still didn’t want to give up on my photography. So, despite not going to the beach to create, I found a creative outlet by exploring my backyard. Equipped with my younger brother’s 60mm macro lens, I found myself getting up close and personal with all the insects in my yard.

Over the course of a few weeks, the collection started to take shape. I still hadn’t gotten back into the morning beach walk routine, but had rediscovered my passion for photography thanks to this collection.

There are still times that I feel a lack of drive and occasionally tell myself it might be best to give up. But then I look back at my collection of bugs and I see hope. I see passion.

I see more than just bugs - I see the start of a new chapter in my journey as a photographer, and the beginning of the way forward.

Thank you all for sticking through everything with me, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds - or what images come next!

If you would like to become a collector of an image from Backyard Bugs, please let me know and I would love to work on a print from this collection for you! To start a request, shoot me an email at tyler@tylersmileyphotography.com!

If you want to add one to your NFT collection (if you want a refresher on what NFTs are, click here), you can find the first 20 images on OpenSea for .075 ETH at this link. And keep an eye out - I’m planning a second, smaller drop once the first 20 images sell out!