It was cool and wet on Monday and clouds covered the entire sky, but I felt an irresistible need to return to the wild after a week in the urban confines of Brussels, Belgium. Many of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, my recent favorite shooting location, were blocked by standing water and there was not a great abundance of wildlife to be seen.
Most dragonflies prefer warm, sunny weather, so I was not surprised when I did not see many of them. I was happy, though, to see that damselflies were active and I spent quite a bit of time trying to capture images of them. They seemed more skittish than normal and the poor lighting made it tough to keep my shutter speed high enough to keep my images from being blurry.
This is one of my favorite damselfly shots of the day. I was able to isolate the subject, which I believe is a male Big Bluet (Enallagma durum) damselfly, while still including enough of the vegetation to give you a sense of the environment in which I found him.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Beautiful capture.. when we went down to Devon once, on our way we stopped at Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire and down by the streams there were hundreds of these beautiful damselflies flying around.
Great picture, Mike. I get the impression that he’s at the starting line of something. Ready – Set –
…and away we go. 🙂
You have travelled me to beauty of nature…
Nice job in finding it and then catching it in this photographic detail. The colours are quite vibrant.
Thanks. When it comes to such tiny living subjects, I always feel lucky when I am able to photograph them.