It's a bug's (day to day) life: When they're not preying, these mantises spend their downtime in the bath and frying flies

By JESSICA SATHERLEY

The day in the life of a mantis: Well not quite... but this photographer has created an amazing series of pictures of the insects on props

A photographer has created a bizarre series of photographs which appear to show a day in the life of a mantis.
Scott Cromwell, from Oklahoma, in the US, spent months painstakingly arranging the live insects with miniature doll-house like props.
His extraordinary shots include one admiring itself in the mirror and another frying flies on a kitchen stove.

Taking a dip: Scott Cromwell placed this mantis in a miniature bubble bath for his photography series

Another scene shows a mother strolling through a park with her offspring in a pram.
One insect is even shown reading a 3cm tall 'Daily Mantis' newspaper while on the toilet, before taking a bubble bath.
Mr Cromwell said: 'I'm always trying to think of new and unusual ways to shoot my images, no matter what the subject.
'The ideas just come to me, usually out of the blue.
'People who see my work love my creativity.'

Morning stroll: A mother mantis takes her baby mantis for a walk in the park in a miniature bug pram

The 40-year-old television repair man bought various species of mantis online - they include a tall violin species, as well as a dead leaf and juvenile ghost.
The majority of props, 1/12 and 1/18 in scale, were bought from eBay but the newspaper, which includes inside pages, was made by hand.
Mr Cromwell said: 'I set everything up with my camera on a tripod and place the mantis where I want it.
'Then I have the remote shutter trigger in one hand and a stick to direct the mantis in the other. Timing is everything.

Fly fry up: A hungry mantis makes a meal by placing some flies in a pan in a tiny kitchen set up with toy props - all the mantis' were alive while Mr Cromwell created the sets

'Just one leg stretched out at an awkward angle ruins the picture.
'I used the violin in the picture with the pram. The smaller mantis in this pose is a ghost.
'I thought shooting them both together would have been impossible but I got lucky - the ghost mantis was content the whole time standing in the seat.
'I mostly had to deal with the violin and her long legs constantly moving.
Mr Cromwell said he had never been attacked by one of the insects while photographing them - even when he placed one in a bubble bath.

source: dailymail