How a Photographer Shot Butterflies in Her Stomach

This time-lapse of a mammoth 3.5-hour photo editing session by Anya Anti is fascinating. The concept behind the shot is that she wanted to create a self-portrait based on the term ‘butterflies in your stomach’.

By capturing an image of a skeleton with butterflies stuck around its ‘stomach’ underneath the rib cage as well as a photo of herself in front of the camera, Anti was able to merge the two images together through a series of clever masking edits in Photoshop.

The result is a beautiful self-portrait, with Anti herself opening a hole in her stomach to reveal the anxiety and unease hidden below.

“[It] is an anxious and nervous feeling inside your stomach,” says Anti. “This image is metaphor of dealing with stress, anxiety and releasing my inner bugs. I’ve had issues with dark thoughts and depression for the past couple of years and this image represents my attempt to reconsider my life and to be reborn into a new person.”

You can see more of Anya Anti’s work on her website, Facebook, and Instagram.

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Image credits: Photographs by Anya Anti and used with permission