It’s dragonfly season and this past Friday fellow dragonfly enthusiast and photographer Walter Sanford guided me to a new spot to search for the elusive beauties. Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge is a nature preserve located on Fort Belvoir, a nearby military base in Fairfax County, Virginia.
We are in a lull period of sorts for dragonflies—some of the early dragonflies are gone and others have not yet appeared. As we were making one final swing through likely locations, having come up almost empty-handed in our search, Walter spotted a dragonfly. The wings were so clear and shiny that it was obviously a teneral dragonfly, one that had only recently emerged.
Identification (and photography) was a bit of a challenge, because the young dragonfly was perched inside of a tangled mass of vegetation, making it almost impossible to get an unobstructed view. Eventually we were able to find a visual tunnel and I was able to get the first shot below. It gives a pretty good view of the dragonfly, which after the fact I could clearly see is a Spangled Skimmer (Libellula cyanea), but I really wasn’t satisfied with it.
Eventually I managed to get a second shot. It doesn’t show the dragonfly’s entire body and many element are out of focus, but it has an artistic sense that I find really appealing. I’m not sure if it’s because of the more vibrant colors or the unusual angle—I just know I like that image a whole lot more than the first one.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Such incredible detail, Mike! I loved seeing all the colours in the eyes and the patterns in the wings.
Thanks, Laura. As you’ve probably noticed this spring, I really love my macro lens and the new worlds that it opens up by highlighting details we miss most of the time in tiny subjects.
Macro photography is really challenging but you seem to be a dab hand at it.
Persistence pays off… They’re both good shots, but I also like the second one.
My friend Walter was a science teacher and he likes for his photos to have sufficient depth of field to show the entire body in focus. I try to be somewhere in the middle between artistic and realistic.
Dragonflies are like sunlight on wings as they skim over water or across the fields. Thanks for posting.
Thanks, Sally, for those beautiful words.
I still haven’t seen any dragonflies but I did see a butterfly the other day.
If I ever see one I hope I can get these kinds of photos of it.
They’re coming. I’ve seen some shots already from folks in New England of early-appearing dragonflies, but they are in isolated habitats, I think.