CNN
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Dara Ojo once feared spiders, especially the kinds of venom. How did time change? The photographer is not only willing to stand up very intimately and personally with all the striped arcnids, but also passionately preserves insects throughout this work.
Ojo, 34, is a master of macrography – extreme close-up In this case, a shot of wildlife – shows little creatures in all its strange and beautiful glory.
“Every time I shoot an insect, I am delighted, curious, intrigued, intrigued by the details of its structure,” Ojo told CNN in a Zoom interview.
For photographers who describe themselves as conservation storytellers, it “simply shed light on these little tiny details and pass by because people are small.”
Born in Lagos, Nigeria My first encounter with photos of Ojo, who lives in Canada, was using his father’s Nikon camera as his child. He photographed birds, snakes, frogs and other creatures. Much later, he was teaching English in China.
But there was another purpose too. In the midst of a flood of photographs of various animals he saw online, Ojo noticed that there is relatively little famous work on the smallest works of nature. He wanted to fill this gap, “and produced positive publicity for insects.”
Ojo first learned how to film macrography through a YouTube tutorial and took a course called “Bug 101: Insects and Human Interactions” at the University of Alberta, Canada. In 2020 he created the first macro image of Dragonfly. Two years later, his photo of a white striped longhorn beetle, taken in China, went viral.
Although beetles are usually 20-40 mm long, the image of the Ojo insects is intimidating yet intriguing calm, giving the impression of human size. Its eyes look like speakers, with full display of details that are invisible to the naked eye, like its microscopic facial hair.
His work spread the internet, with several Instagram posts reaching nearly 1 million views. It also attracted the attention of UN Vice-Chancellor Amina J. Mohammed, who shared some of them at X to commemorate World Biodiversity Day in 2025.
However, perception creates certain pressures. “Now, I have to keep the bar high on every last shoot, as I look to me worldwide. Also, as a black person, I feel like a role model and give my voice as people of color that I don’t normally see in this kind of field.
Another impressive image is the Primrose Mus, with a distinctive vibrant pink and yellow colour. A pagoda-like orb weaver spider with thorns on the back. Katidid – a type of cricket – has a face resembling a church dome. Wolf spider eating a frog.
Ojo said, “When I’m filming, I have a great respect for them. God is the perfect designer and I see them as the need for us to protect them.”
He photographed over 40 different spiders, 50 moths, 30 butterfly species, over 20 dd ladies’ groups, and at least 70 damselmos. Of all the fauna he photographed, the condition of the bee worries him the most. “Even though bees are essential to our presence due to pollination, they are rare and truly at risk,” Ojo says.
His work is currently featured in “Insect Apocalypse,” the first episode of the documentary “Bugs that the World,” which is on display in the US and Canada. The four-part series focuses on the decline of insects and how this is harmful to ecosystems and human existence, and includes photographs taken in Costa Rica.
Ojo is working to release the first coffee table book of his work in 2026, with three more planned to add over the next five years.
However, photography is not Ojo’s full-time profession. He works as a data analyst at the University of Alberta and holds an MBA in Information Technology from Edge Hill University in Ohmskirk, England.
He explains that his technical background gives him an edge by processing photos that are best taken at night and early in the morning when the insects are asleep or resting. He captures multiple photos at different depths of field and combines them using stacking software to make the entire insect into pinsharp focus. Since images are taken without modification, he edits them digitally, primarily to enhance the colour.
He occasionally sells prints of his photographs, but his defense of his subject matter is his main motivation, says Ojo. Insect populations around the world are at risk. For example, among his once-terrifying spiders, the score is classified as highly at-risk.
“The main goal is to use my images to reveal the beauty of insects and other small creatures,” he says. First he draws people in and then shares the conservation message. And hopefully, people take action, explains Ojo.
“When people are blown away by photos, they are curious and develop empathy to protect them.”
