He told the story of how he embarked on his project of magnified portraits of insects. He began by explaining how at the height of success, he was beginning to feel a little unfulfilled in his career. He then began to look for an extraordinary experience to bring to life as a visual creation. During a 2014 spring, his son brought home a ground beetle which they eventually put under a microscope revealing incredibly beautiful photographs of complex galaxy like patterns and diverse colors. Biss then decided to attempt to use his photography skills and lighting control to take pictures of 5 millimeter insects, producing such extraordinary results that Oxford University museum of Natural History decided to give him open access to their entire collection.