I can’t totally exclude the possibility that I may see a hardy survivor of another species, but it is beginning to look like Autumn Meadowhawks (Sympetrum vicinum) are the sole remaining dragonfly species. Last week I spotted quite a few of them during a visit to Huntley Meadows Park, a county-owned marshland not far from where I live.
I tried to capture images of these bright red beauties in as many different environments as I could. Autumn Meadowhawks often perch on the ground, which does not provide a very interesting background, as you can see in the final photo. It is much more interesting if they perch on fallen leaves, or even better if they choose a more elevated perch.
The photos below give you an idea of how I try to “work” a subject. I try to shooting from different angles and distances. When possible, I try to selectively include or exclude background elements by choosing the appropriate camera settings, as you can see in the fourth photo, where I caused the background to be totally out of focus. Paying attention to the direction of the light really helps too, as you can see particularly in the second image in which the light is so directional that it almost looks like a studio portrait.
Autumn Meadowhawks will probably be around for another few weeks or maybe a month or so, depending in part on the severity of the local weather. At that point, I will rekuctantly turn my focus to birds, landscapes, and other non-insect subjects. I also hope to devote a bit more attention to learning more about creating videos—I have a modest YouTube channel that I have allowed to languish this past year.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 