Talented Ukrainian nature photographer Vyacheslav Mishchenko has an eye for taking photos that bring small natural worlds up to our level, showing us how the world might look if we could see it through the eyes of an ant, snail or lizard.

Mishchenko’s interest with the miniature natural world around us began early on in his youth. “As a child, my father taught me to hunt mushrooms near my home and we would always come across all manner of bugs and creatures,” he told dailymail. “As I got older and my interest in photography grew, I decided I wanted to catch these magical scenes on camera.“

Mishchenko shoots his unwitting models in their natural habitats, but whether or not they even realize that they’re being made to model for a photo shoot is unclear. His photography feature snails enthralled by drops of water or kissing and insects stretching across gaps of water in setups that are nothing less than picture-perfect. Mischenko uses a Fujifilm Finepix S200EXR – his first digital camera – for most of these photos.

Unsurprisingly, Mishchenko has a colorful of history and has worked with a wide variety of art forms – he lists woodworking and painting as other artistic interests of his as well. It’s definitely worth paying this Renaissance man’s Facebook page a visit and checking out the rest of his work!

UPDATE: Vyacheslav Mishchenko was kind enough to give us an interview. Check out his answers below for more info about his beautiful photos!

“I photograph all insects but snails have touched my heart particularly. I think that snails are simply extraordinary not only in their shape and form but also in their beauty and behavior. They are magic creatures for me,” Mishchenko told Bored Panda.

“I shoot all insects in their natural habitat. All the stories that you see in my photos exist in nature. It’s a question of luck to be in the right place at the right time. My goal is to show the beauty of the world around us.”

“I have been interested in photography since childhood. My father worked as a freelance photographer for the local newspapers. I observed his art and learned it.”

“My family used to spend a lot of weekends camping in a beautiful forest. Thus photography and nature naturally entered my life. I took my first macro shot when I was 10 years old.”

“After getting married and having children, photography went by the wayside. Most of the time I spent on painting. With the advent of digital photography I have renewed my passion for photography.”

“I would advise a beginner photographer to be patient, to develop artistic taste, to be romantic and finally to love nature.”

We’d like to thank Vyacheslav Mishchenko for giving us an interview and allowing us to use his work! Reproduction, copying, or redistribution is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of the author.