I have been seeing dragonflies at my local marshland park for a couple of weeks now and yesterday I finally got my first dragonfly shots of the spring. It’s still a little early for the emergence of the local dragonflies, so I was not at all surprised that the dragonflies that I captured were Common Green Darners (Anax junius), a migratory species.
Green Darners spend most of their time flying, rather than perching, so it is pretty tough to take photos of them. In this case, I captured the pair in tandem, as the female was ovipositing in the vegetation of a shallow vernal pool.
As luck would have it, after a day of walking around with my telephoto zoom lens on my camera, I had switched to a macro lens not long before I encountered these dragonflies. My macro lens is 180mm in focal length, but that really didn’t get me close enough to the dragonflies. I tried unsuccessfully to be stealthy in moving closer, but the Green Darners flew away as I drew nearer.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Great shots Mike, the colours are amazing
Thanks. The blues and greens of these dragonflies are indeed incredible. It definitely lifts my spirits just to see them and I am blown away by the fact that they migrate south for the winter.
I know you’re elated, Mike–this is what you’ve been waiting for. I hope you took your wet boots off before entering the house. Looking forward for more as the non-migrants emerge!
Very nice. Are you using a tripod or monopod? And how close are you to the dragonflies?
Nice shots. Well worth the wet feet!
Fantastic to see Dragonfly season is back. Nice shots.