Are you always in search of new subjects or are you content to photograph the same subjects over and over again? Several years ago I came across an author who described two different types of people—those who prefer to live “widely” and those who prefer to live “deeply.” Those in the first group are always seeking new experiences and traveling to new places and, as photographers, are constantly looking for new things to photograph. By contrast, those in the second group are looking for a deeper experience and are likely to repeatedly return to the same locations over and over and photograph the same limited set of subjects.
As you might suspect, I see myself primarily as a member of the second group. Many of you have undoubtedly noted that I tend to hang out a lot in the same wildlife refuges throughout the year and often photograph familiar subjects. Why? For me, each encounter is unique—the lighting is different, the poses are different, and the age and genders of my subjects vary. I enjoy documenting the seasonal changes in fora and fauna at these locations. Each time I strive to capture different and, if possible, better images.
So, I am posting another photo of a Halloween Pennant dragonfly (Celithemis eponina), even though I posted several images of this species last week. My angle of view for this image from this past weekend was better; the lighting was coming from a better direction; and the slight breeze prompted the dragonfly to move its wings in a way that created a better pose. Consequently, I like this image more than the ones I posted earlier.
My simple approach to blog postings is to present something that is interesting to viewers. The photos may be visually appealing or show details or behavior that you may not have noticed before. You may learn something from my words or may have a better understanding of how the images came into being. Each day we have new opportunities to fill our lives with beauty and meaning. Photography and blogging have become part of my daily journey and I feel blessed to be able to share my experiences with so many of you.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Gorgeous photograph of the membranous wings. Odonata is one of my favorite orders of insects 😍😍
Thanks, Genna. If you search around on the blog, you’ll discover that I photograph lots and lots of dragonflies and damselflies–they are my absolutely favorite subject in the summer.
I learn from your blog everyday. Thanks for blogging.
I must be a “deep and wide” kinda person! I love finding new places and subjects, but then I want to return to each of them to get better images of what I found the first time!
Love the Halloween Pennants. They’re especially abundant around here just now.
Very nice perspective, Mike! Moving to a position where your lens is parallel to the subject allows terrific focus throughout.
Keep filling our lives and yours with beauty, meaning and those wonderful images and fresh takes! This is a lovely dragonfly!
Wow that’s stunning!
“Unbelievable!”, Nigel’s comment when I showed him the enlarged image.
It is always such a pleasure to enlarge your images and admire the incredible detail you capture, Mike!
Thanks so much, Chris. I love details and that is why I am shooting most of time with a long telephoto lens or with a macro lens. I do downsize the images before I post them, but keep the resolution high enough that viewers can zoom in on them to see the small details.
Do you think their faces show “personality”?
I like to think that dragonflies smile at me and that their head tilts indicate an interest and a personality–I sometimes dogsit for a German Shepherd and she also is prone to tilting her head and looking at me with questioning eyes. I can only imagine what the world looks like through those giant compound eyes with hundreds of lenses.
Yes, I think maybe there’s a lot more to nature than what we know or think. The variation in the dragonflies you photograph is beautiful and amazing.