The enemy of my enemy?

This robber fly was evidently so absorbed in absorbing its prey that

it was unconcerned about a camera lens just inches from its face.

Robber flies will probably never have the charismatic appeal of

ladybugs or praying mantises, but I bet they do more to keep apple

maggot flies off of my apple trees than either (which is not to imply

that this one is ingesting an apple maggot fly; chances are that the

prey here is neither harmful nor beneficial to humans).

The composition of this photo is more center-weighted than usual for

me. Thoughts on that or anything else about my photos are always welcome.

Thank you Amar and TamTam for your comments, and everyone for your ratings. So far the consensus seems to be that this photo is exactly as original as it is aesthetically pleasing--ratings range from 4/4 to 7/7, but all 15, as I write this, are the same for aesthetics and originality.

It is much more gratifying when a photo gets higher ratings than I expect than when one gets lower ratings, but somehow it is no less mystifying or informative. I frankly don't find this photo to be particularly pleasing aesthetically; I'm more fond of insects than most, but that robber fly still looks downright ugly to me. I wish it had at least chosen to eat a fly with bright red eyes or something (the sort of thing Krister Hall seems to find so easily). I can only assume that many of the higher ratings this photo received are for the natural moment captured, and for that I should belatedly thank my wife. I was searching a grape vine for interesting tendrils (and taking some very dull photos) when my wife spotted this scene and called me over. This proved to be a much easier subject than the tendrils--I still don't have any good tendril photos. But the tendrils will still be there next weekend.

Dave, This is great.The capture of the homogenous lighting is rare in the Ento shots you find in here.

Excellent...