Experimentation, time and patience

I can hardly believe that it is already July.  My life has been so busy, that I have had few opportunities to get outdoors and explore.  However, I carry my camera everywhere, unless extreme temperatures prevent doing so.  This allows me some time everyday to practice my photography and do a little experimenting at the same time.  Sometimes I am even pleased with the results.

First wave-ducks from a new perspective

Juvenile mallard

Although I have not been seeing many birds, I did get some shots of other delightfully winged creatures.  Some of these are new to me, which is always exciting.  The Dragonflies have emerged for example, and some of them are real beauties.  When I was a child I was absolutely terrified of dragonflies, now I love them, funny how time changes one's perspective.  The ones I present here are quite large, about three and a half to four inches long.  I believe these are classified as cruisers.  If anyone knows their identification please let me know.

A beautiful blue and black dragonfly at my front door

I caught the Dragonfly above near my work at lunch time.  I have never seen one this color.  He's quite the handsome fellow.  Before he settled on the wall above me, he landed on my hip, I was both astonished and delighted.

Pearl Crescent

 Butterflies have also emerged in more significant numbers.  I don't know about anyone else, but I find butterflies more difficult to photography than birds.  Their flight is more erratic and I find they are more hyperactive than flycatchers.

Red Admiral

White Admiral

With birds you can usually tell by their body language when they are about to take off,  and even in which direction.  Butterflies give no visible clues that I can tell.  They are also hyper alert to movement of any kind around them.  The result is that they are difficult to approach.  Patience is the key to photographing butterflies.  They do settle for a few minutes, if undisturbed and a preferred food source is available.  The White Admiral above for example was feeding on the sap of new pine tree buds, and he was there for quite some time.

Enjoy,
Susan