Beautiful Death

The seemingly tranquil world of a suburban pond covered with water lilies is anything but. I rescued some Striped Marsh frog’s eggs from an evaporating puddle and was able to photograph their development which is more like a slasher film on a micro scale than a Disney movie. While I was building a frog pond (another story) I kept this assortment of eggs, tadpoles and froglets in a tank in my kitchen, where I was able to image them on a daily basis until I released them into their new home. I have now become immersed in their daily activities and in this series I am exploring the ethereal beauty of life and death in their miniature world. New life, cannibalism and death and decay feature heavily. Newly laid frogs eggs are eaten by their matured tadpole siblings. A decaying jasmine flower becomes food for the surviving newly hatched tadpoles. Without life there is no death, without death, there is no life.