I was away in the mountains last weekend at a church retreat at Shrine Mont, and Episcopal retreat center in Orkney Springs, Virginia. We had a wonderful time of rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation in a really beautiful setting.
There was a small pond at the site where I spotted a number of dragonflies, including some Common Baskettails (Epitheca cynosura) that were patrolling back and forth over the surface of the water. I felt compelled to try to capture images of these dragonflies and had a modest amount of success, as you can see in the photos below. I ended up focusing manually most of the time, because the backgrounds were often cluttered and the focus system had trouble acquiring the dragonflies.
I really like the way that this little series shows the varied backgrounds at the pond. I was also quite happy to focus well enough on the dragonflies that the backgrounds were blurred and non-distracting. In case you are curious, these Common Baskettails were relatively cooperative, hovering a bit over the water and allowing me time to focus on them.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Cool, COOL dragonfly, Mike! Great captures too!
Thanks, Mitzy. I love dragonflies and can’t help but try to catch them in flight. It’s a fun challenge, but I need a bit of luck to have any success at all. Fortunately they sometimes hover a little when patrolling over the water, which gives me a chance to get some somewhat in-focus shots.
Haven’t seen a dragonfly here yet but things will warm up soon. Glad to see your nice flight shots, Mike.
Thanks, Steve. We’ve had a pretty good crop of spring dragonflies that are now disappearing. Gradually some of the more common summer species are taking their places.