Simple Saturday shots

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Simple Saturday shots

July 17, 2021 by Mike Powell

Most of the time the photos in my postings were taking during a single trip to a particular location, but today I decided to mix things up a little. There is really nothing that links these three photos together, except perhaps the fact that they are all simple graphic images.

The first image shows a Banded Pennant dragonfly (Celithemis fasciata) perched on a curved piece of vegetation. Some Facebook viewers stated that they thought of the golden arches of McDonald’s, while others thought of the enormous Gateway Arch in St. Louis. I had no such thoughts and simply liked the curved shape of the vegetation as well as the rest of the compositional elements in the shot.

The second image shows a Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) with proboscis extended as it feeds on a plant that I think is Queen Anne’s Lace. I really like the minimal range of colors in the image and the way that the veins of the butterfly mirror the structure of the plant.

The final image is perhaps the most simple and the most abstract. A damselfly was perched on a leaf just above eye-level, its shape clearly evident in the shadow that it was casting. I was seized with an irresistible impulse to photograph the semi-hidden insect. If you click on the image, you will discover that one of the damselfly’s eyes was curiously peering over the edge of the leave and one tiny foot was sticking out too.

Posted in Butterflies, damselfly, dragonfly, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife | Tagged Banded Pennant, Banded Pennant dragonfly, Cabbage White, Cabbage White butterfly, Canon 50D, Celithemis fasciata, damselfly, Pieris rapae, Tamron 180mm | 11 Comments

11 Responses

on July 17, 2021 at 8:05 am | Reply Simple Saturday shots | On Earth as in Heaven

[…] Simple Saturday shots […]
on July 17, 2021 at 8:07 am | Reply shoreacres

That last image is my favorite. The thought that crossed my mind was, “You can fly, but you can’t hide.”
- on July 17, 2021 at 8:26 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I love your reaction–it’s like when I see a heron standing behind a cattail, thinking that it is hidden from view. 🙂
on July 17, 2021 at 8:17 am | Reply Ted Jennings - TPJ Photography

Nice series, and change of pace 👏👏👏
- on July 17, 2021 at 8:28 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Ted. I had worked up the images and decided that I’d throw them all together into a photography potpourri, rather than do three separate posting. Laziness? Perhaps so, but it is one way to catch up on a backlog of photos. 🙂
on July 17, 2021 at 5:33 pm | Reply sv-anui.com

The last image is my favourite: unusual and it made me smile when I zoomed in and saw the eye peering over the edge.
- on July 17, 2021 at 6:09 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Chris. I am happy to see that you thought the shot was as “cool” as I did.
on July 17, 2021 at 7:46 pm | Reply Eliza Waters

Nice, Mike. I really like the composition in the first image of the arched grass and blurred background.
- on July 18, 2021 at 6:54 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Eliza. It has been really interesting to get the reactions of readers to the three different photos. I too tend to like the first photo most, but the the other images also have their supporters. Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.
on July 18, 2021 at 9:08 am | Reply Reed Andariese

Very Nice Mike! I can not pick a favorite because I liked them all!!
- on July 18, 2021 at 6:47 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I too like them all, because each appeals to me in different ways. I could never be a judge in a competition, because I think that there is really no objective way to determine which one is “better,” though it might be possible for me to choose a “favorite” for entirely subjective reasons.