I recently had a chance to photograph a pair of mating Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonflues with fellow photographer and blogger Walter Sanford. We decided to do separate blog postings to show our individual takes on these photographic subjects. Be sure to check out more of the awesome wildlife images on his blog, especially those of dragonflies and damselflies.
I spotted a mating pair of Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum ambiguum) during a photowalk with Mike Powell at Huntley Meadows Park on 20 October 2014. I took a step or two toward the pair and they flew away. I followed the dragonflies to a nearby location where they stayed for quite a while.
I positioned myself so my line of sight was perpendicular to the dragonflies, with the pair back-lighted by the late-afternoon Sun; Mike took the other side. I was shooting photos with my superzoom camera and an external flash; Mike was shooting close-up photos with a DSLR and macro lens. The situation reminded of a familiar expression, “There are two sides to every story.” The following photos tell my side of this story.
The mating pair is shown “in wheel.”
The copulatory, or wheel, position is unique to the Odonata, as is the distant separation of the male’s genital opening and copulatory organs. Source…
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Very interesting to see how you and Walter approach the same subject. It’s great to have a fellow photographer to share these experiences.
Our equipment is different, our shooting styles are different, our backgrounds are different, and the way we write our blogs is different. It’s nice to see the contrast. I remember hearing about some French impressionist painters who would paint a scene side by side, producing different results, with neither being necessarily better, just different.