786+ photographs · seven years · macro
Perhaps the largest collection of artistic snail photography in the world.
Seven years of kneeling in the wet grass with a phone — one California backyard, the hedgerows of Germany, and the small, patient lives most people step over. Every image here was made without harming a single snail.
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Selected work
Twelve from the archive. Shared small on purpose — full-resolution files are reserved for prints and licensed use.
The archive
Sixty-four of 746 photographs and counting — seven years, one square of wet grass at a time.
The story
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Seven years at a snail's pace
It started with one snail on one leaf after a rain. Seven years later the archive holds more than 786 photographs, all taken on a cell phone — proof that patience matters more than equipment.
Snails only come out when conditions are exactly right, so this collection is really a record of paying attention: to weather, to seasons, to the slow small dramas happening at ankle height. Nothing is staged, no snail was ever harmed or moved for a shot, and every photograph waited for the animal to decide what happened next.
The archive is compiled by Alex Striler and grows with every rain.
Licensing
License these photographs
- Editorial & publishing — textbooks, magazines, field guides, and websites. High-resolution files with location and date metadata.
- Science & education — museums, conservation groups, and apps. Seven years of one subject, including European species from Germany.
- Commercial — packaging, advertising, and products. Exclusive arrangements available for individual images.
Standard license
$30 one year · $50 lifetime
Per image, non-exclusive. Use it in your publication, site, app, or product for the term you choose.
Exclusive license
$60 one year · $100 lifetime
Per image. The image is licensed to you alone for the term — no other licensees.
Licenses grant usage rights only. They do not include ownership of the photograph or of its one-of-one Original — those are sold separately, once each, in The Originals.
Email a licensing requestSelected images are also available through Adobe Stock and Alamy.
Take one home
The Print Shop
Museum-quality fine-art prints of the archive's best images, printed on demand and shipped to your door.
Visit the print shopThe Slow Collection — digital
Wallpaper packs for phone and desktop, the yearly digital calendar, and the backyard-macro photography guide. Instant download.
Visit the digital shop