Diane Chattaway

You made it.

Somehow, through hashtags or happenstance...you landed here.

Welcome.

I’m Diane Chattaway.

Writer. Photographer. Bug listener. Empath of living things.

I name bugs, take their portraits, and write their stories.

I turn macro photography into fairy tales and grief into storybooks.

Somewhere between folklore and photojournalism, you’ll find me...

telling heart-heavy tales from the tiny corners of nature,

where even the unseen creatures get a voice.

If you’ve ever cried over a dead beetle, named a spider,

or felt too weird for the world, then

you’re without a doubt, my kind of people.

Macro tales. Quiet truths we keep hidden. It's all there, magic in the margins.

Welcome to my strange little garden.

Truth is, I have no idea what I’m doing.

I’m flailing around the void of the internet like everyone else,

trying to find my place, and my people.

I’m here to share the journey:

the chaos, the beauty, the bugs,

and the words that just won’t leave me alone.

Journey to maybe someday, being someone’s favorite writer.

Although for now, I'm still finding my voice. Figuring out where I belong, literarily speaking.

I'm just out here doing my best to capture the beauty of God’s creation in its tiniest forms.

To show the sacredness in wings and silence and soil.

To prove that even the smallest lives have meaning.

This is where I share an eclectic mix of all things me...

all the while hoping to reach the folks out there who are a lot like me.

The weirdos. The outcasts. The ones who don’t fit any mold.

All of us just trying to be, while finding joy in the small things.

While here on this page, you might find a poem, a fictional tale,

a portrait of a bug I’ve named,

a soft rant about why I think kindness is wildly underrated, and might just be the key to saving the world,

or maybe a random musing about why the number 9 always circles back to itself.

Seriously ... “Nine is the only number that multiplies into anything, simplifies itself, and still circles back to nine, like it’s whispering, I never really left.”

Anyway, like I said ...who knows what’ll show up?

This page is my own personal chaos garden.

I welcome you to stay anyhow.

Read a story.

Ask a question.

Or just sit in the quiet with me awhile.

Feel free to follow me on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/deechattaway

The sound of nature is so relaxing.

This is my favorite tree?

Current view.

#trees #naturephotography #woods

Share a beautiful moment with me.

Ever since Mom passed, butterflies seem to find their way into mine and my sister's lives.

Maybe it's coincidence. Maybe it's a comforting sign.

Maybe it's God reminding us that love doesn't end when someone leaves this world.

Whatever it is, seeing this beautiful visitor outside my window made me think of her today.

I asked God for flowers. I got so much more.

What started as a few blooms outside my window became a tiny ecosystem.

The sunflowers brought the bees. The bees brought the spiders. The flowers brought the birds. So on and so on.

Now every morning there's something new waiting outside my door, bumble bees dusted with pollen, native bees buried in sunflower petals, cardinals at the feeders, squirrels under the pines, quite literally an entire world buzzing with life.

Last year I was wandering through the woods looking for subjects to photograph.

Now they're right outside my window.

Sometimes the answer to a prayer isn't just what you asked for. Sometimes it's far more than you imagined.

Thanks Lord.

Today I saved a life. Not a human life. Not a life most people would probably even notice. Just a tiny bee trapped inside a flower filled with water.

At first, I thought it was gone.

The bloom had filled with water, trapping it inside. I carefully removed a few petals to drain the flower and set it back in the garden where it could rest and dry in the warmth.

Slowly, one leg moved. Then another. And before long, this little survivor was looking back at me through my macro lens.

Look at that face.

You're gonna be okay, little buddy.

Meet my newest friend Charlie.

I thought death had called as I stared out toward a skull staring back at me.

Just kidding. Being dramatic.

It was just one of God's tiny wonders.

This is a walnut orb weaver. (According to my 5 second Google search.)

Tiny little pest controllers, minding their business while keeping other insects in check.

Named him Ben.

Check out this tiny little nightmare…

Kidding. His name is Steve, and he’s practically harmless.

Two strangers meet on a bloom and forget the world exists.

Covered in pollen, tangled together, doing what nature has always asked of them.

Life doesn’t pause. It continues beautifully without permission.

These are soldier beetles... gentle pollinators dressed in black and gold.

While they feed, they carry pollen from bloom to bloom, helping life continue long after they’re gone.

Even their young play a role, hunting garden pests like aphids and protecting the balance of a delicate ecosystem. 

If you’re tired and overwhelmed, or just need a moment… spend a little time with me.

Sit with this tiny visitor. Listen to the quiet rustle of the wind, the birds calling in the distance, the chimes dancing in the breeze… and let the soft rhythm of the world slow you down, just long enough to catch your breath.

Obsessed with these cuties.

How stinking cute are they?

Love them so much.

They hatched!

It was a normal, quiet day and then life just… hatched.

Dozens of tiny praying mantises, fresh to the world, climbing over everything... my hands, my shoe … like I was just another part of their beginning.

They had no fear. They didn't hesitate. They were just a bunch of curious kids.

Sometimes I wonder what it must feel like to enter the world like that… no worries… just trust that certaibty that you’ll be held.

When did we lose that?

Have you ever seen a hummingbird take a bath in 45° weather? Me neither. Not until today.

I was sitting at my desk, getting some writing time in with God when I looked out the window and saw him l... dancing under the stream like the cold didn’t exist.

Such a beautiful way to start the day.

God’s smallest creations never fail to stop me in my tracks…

I stepped outside this morning and found a quiet little gathering, tucked beneath a leaf.

Sometimes, in a world that never seems to slow down, I feel like God pushed me behind the camera… just to make me pause.

To notice moments like this. To see what’s been there all along, hidden in the spaces we usually rush past.

I’ll be honest… I struggled today. Out of 156 photos, these are the only ones that weren’t overly blurry.

I’m still learning to rely on my left eye while I figure out what’s wrong with the right… and that hasn’t been easy.

But you know what?

How cool is this! First time seeing it in action.

Caught this little guy mid-mission while watering the garden…

Look at him go, shooting that web like it's nothing. Lowkey Spider-Man out here by the bird feeders.

Named him Tom.

Moments from today…

Spent a little time in the garden, making it a bit more inviting.

Lowkey hoping to lure in tiny wings, curious crawlers, and quiet little visitors.

And look... they came.

He came wrapped in gold like the forest had marked him for something greater.

I found him tucked inside a fallen cluster of pine... quiet, hiding, dusted in pollen like he carried stardust for ultimate wishes.

A traveler between branches. A keeper of forgotten paths.

The kind of small life you only see when you slow down long enough to notice magic.