On the last day of April I spotted a Blue Corporal dragonfly (Ladona deplanata) that was newly emerged and was not yet blue. This past Friday I went back to the same location at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and found a young male Blue Corporal that had already gained his blue coloration.
Additionally, he was now perching on some vegetation rather than on the ground, which allowed me to get a more artistic shot—I really like the arc of the vegetation and how it helped make for an interesting composition.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Nice one Mike.
To quote Benjamin “Wow!” Another magnificent photo for him to enjoy, as did I. Thank-you, Mr. Mike!
I think that I have warned viewers that I love photographing dragonflies. There is something so special for me about their delicate beauty. Ideally I try to capture them in a kind of “artsy” way that does more than merely document their presence.
Excellent!
What a perfectly lovely photo, that arc of vegetation is just the right support!
Thanks, Liz. Sometimes the background cooperates or I can make minor adjustments when I am shooting wildlife, but often I have to make do with what I get. (Sometimes I envy portrait photographs who can control their environment in a studio setting.)
When I enlarged this photo Benjamin said : “WOW, this dragonfly is so blue and pretty”! He inspected him from every angle. He finds the details in the wings fascinating. One thing that really caught his attention is how the dragonfly is “sitting on the big leaf”. Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
[…] as the females and as they mature they turn blue. (Here’s a link to a 2018 posting called A Bluer Corporal that shows a mature male.) The dragonfly in the final photo looks to be an immature and the one in […]