I love the abstract feel of this image that I captured last week at Occoquan Regional Park. The shapes and colors in the photo are much more important than the details of the subject, which I think is a Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula needhami). From this angle, dragonflies often remind me of the biplanes of World War One, like the Sopwith Camel that was sometimes featured in Snoopy comic strips.
Photography allows for such a wide range of approaches to express myself creatively. I can be geeky and technical, as I usually am, striving to capture the minute details of my often tiny subjects or I can be as “artsy” as I choose, focusing on capturing and creating moods or feelings with the basic elements of light and darkness, of colors, lines, and shapes.
Professional photographer’s are sometimes advised to create a signature style and to stick with it. I am proudly an amateur, who captures images for love—the root word in “amateur”—and I defiantly refuse to stick to a single style. My photos and words help you to see the world through my eyes and hopefully my unbounded curiosity and enthusiasm about the world are evident in my postings. If you meet me in person, you’ll see that the “me” in my postings is not a social media persona—it is genuinely who I am.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 