Posted in Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, wildlife, tagged Acronicta oblinita, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Smeared Dagger, Smeared Dagger caterpillar, Smeared Dagger Moth caterpillar, Tamron 180mm on September 30, 2016| 5 Comments »
I love to photograph insects with cool or unusual names, like this caterpillar known as the Smeared Dagger moth caterpillar (Acronicta oblinita). Who makes up these crazy names? (Photographed on Monday at Huntley Meadows Park.)
One of my other favorite names is the Twice-stabbed Stink Bug (Cosmopepla lintneriana). Yes, that’s a real insect. You can’t just make this stuff up, or maybe you can.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge, Limenitis arthemis, Red-spotted Purple, Red-spotted Purple butterfly, Tamron 180mm on September 29, 2016| 3 Comments »
The leaves are speckled with blemishes and the Red-spotted Purple butterfly (Limenitis arthemis) is faded and tattered, but there is real beauty in the imperfection of autumn. Photographed this past weekend at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Arachnids, Nature, Photography, spiders, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Argiope aurantia, Black and Yellow Garden Orbweaver spider, Canon 50D, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge, Tamron 180mm on September 27, 2016| 7 Comments »
I’m always happy to see a black and yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia). I love its colorful patterns and its intricate web (and apologies to readers who are totally creeped out by spiders). I spotted this beauty this past weekend in a patch of goldenrod at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Sympetrum ambiguum, Tamron 180mm on September 25, 2016| 10 Comments »
On Friday I had a close encounter with one of my favorite dragonflies, a spectacular Blue-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum ambiguum). This species is a sign for me each year of the arrival of autumn and I eagerly await its appearance. I find the blue eyes to be mesmerizing and simply love the way that they contrast with the bold red color of its body.
I could go on and on about the beauty of this dragonfly until I too was blue in the face, but I will simply let you enjoy a glimpse of its beauty.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, dragonfly in flight, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge, Russet-tipped Clubtail, Russet-tipped Clubtail dragonfly, Stylurus plagiatus, Tamron 180mm on September 24, 2016| 7 Comments »
When fellow photographer and local dragonfly expert Walter Sanford posted a photo of a Russet-tailed Clubtail dragonfly (Stylurus plagiatus) that he had spotted on Thursday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge, I was filled with an overwhelming urge to see if I could find the dragonfly. At this time of the year, as the dragonfly season winds down, I really don’t think much about finding new species, so this was an exciting challenge.
I knew the general location, but I forgot to ask Walter for more specific information about his find. Was it near the water or in the woods or along the stream or among the wildflowers? It was a kind of crazy quixotic quest, but I am pretty persistent, so I scoured the area, making loop after loop around a small pond.
My hope and my energy were beginning to fade when I suddenly caught sight of a dragonfly’s wings shining in the sunlight. The dragonfly was perched on some vegetation at the edge of the treeline. Moving as stealthily as I could, I approached the dragonfly and realized that I had found the Russet-tipped Clubtail. I often complain about the inappropriateness of the names of insects, but in this case it fit perfectly.
I managed to take a number of shots of the perching dragonfly before it flew off, heading deeper into the woods. After it had flown a short distance, it seemed to stop abruptly in mid-air. What was going on? I switched to manual focus and took a few shots and then began to worry that the dragonfly had gotten caught in a bit of spider web. (All morning long I kept running into spider webs at face level as I walked through the woods.) As I moved my hand closer to the dragonfly in an attempt to free it, the dragonfly flew off and disappeared. I didn’t see any evidence of a spider web, so it was probably only my overly active imagination.
This was one of my most memorable encounters with a dragonfly. I may stop by again this weekend to see if it is still hanging around, but the chances are not good that I will see it again. Still, lightning can strike twice and that kind of optimism helps to fuel my enthusiasm for photography.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Handsome Meadow Katydid, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge, katydid, Orchelimum pulchellum, Tamron 180mm on September 23, 2016| 3 Comments »
The rays of sunshine illuminated her face and our eyes met and Katy and I shared a moment when time seemed to stand still. Alas, the spell was soon broken and she abandoned me. Yes, Katy did.
I took this shot last weekend at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. I believe that “Katy” is a Handsome Meadow Katydid (Orchelimum pulchellum), although much of the katydid’s body remained in the shadows so I am not one hundred percent sure of the species identification, though the length of the antennae makes me confident that it is a katydid and not a grasshopper.
It was a fun challenge to get this shot, which I decided to post uncropped. I was sprawled on the ground, trying to get at eye level with the katydid and move in as closely as I could without disturbing the stalks of grass. For a shot like this, my 180mm macro lens was perfect, though I really have to focus on technique to make sure that my shooting position is steady, given that the lens does not have any built-in image stabilization (VR for Nikon folks).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cercyonis pegala, Common Wood Nymph, Huntley Meadows Park, nymphomania, Tamron 180mm on September 22, 2016| 9 Comments »
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Butterflies, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cupido comyntas, Eastern Tailed-blue, Eastern Tailed-blue butterfly, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge, Little Yellow, Pearl Crescent. Phyciodes tharos, Pyrisitia lisa, sulphur butterfly, Tamron 180mm, tiny butterflies on September 21, 2016| 9 Comments »
I can identify most of the large butterflies here in Northern Virginia, but the tiny ones continue to confound me. This past weekend I was able to get some shots of some tiny beauties with my macro lens, but I am not really confident in my identification of any of them.
The first image, I think, may be an Eastern Tailed-blue butterfly (Blue Everes comyntas) or it could be some kind of hairstreak butterfly. The second one looks to be a sulphur, but I can’t decide if it is clouded, cloudless, or some other kind of sulphur butterfly. As for the final shot, I don’t even have a guess.
Despite my confusion about identification, I can’t help but be overwhelmed by the delicate beauty of this tiny creatures.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Great Spangled Fritillary, Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Speyeria cybele, Tamron 180mm on September 17, 2016| 10 Comments »
Have you ever gone eye-to-eye with a butterfly? Yesterday at Huntley Meadows Park this Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly (Speyeria Cybele) was so focused on feeding that it let me get pretty close, close enough to see its cool speckled eyes and its extended proboscis.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, David Carradine, grasshoppers, Huntley Meadows Park, Kung Fu, Tamron 180mm on September 16, 2016| 9 Comments »
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Dragonflies, Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Argia fumipennis, Argia fumipennis violacea, Canon 50D, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge, Tamron 180mm, Variable Dancer, Variable Dancer damselfly, Violet Dancer, Violet Dancer damselfly on September 14, 2016| 10 Comments »
Not all people like to have insects perch on them, but I thought it was pretty cool when an inquisitive Variable Dancer damselfly (Argia fumipennis) landed on my hand Monday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge. The real challenge was getting a photo of the damselfly shooting one-handed with my DSLR and 180mm macro lens.
Sharp-eyed readers may have recognized that this is the same species of damselfly as the one featured in my blog’s banner. I just love the beautiful purple markings of this damselfly, which is also known as a Violet Dancer (Argia fumipennis violacea), if you use the name of the sub-species.
It was interesting trying to get shots as I tried to hold my left hand still and slowly extended my arm out as far as it would go. The damselfly was relatively cooperative, but moved about a little as it explored my hand. Steadying my shooting hand was an even bigger challenge. Normally I like to try to get as close to parallel with a damselfly’s body as possible, so that most of it will be in focus, but that was not possible in this situation, given the anatomical limitations of the human body.
Looking at these images, I have reached a sad conclusion—I am going to have to give up on my dream of becoming a professional hand model.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, dragonflies mating, Huntley Meadows Park, Sympetrum ambiguum, Tamron 180mm on September 13, 2016| 6 Comments »
Most of the Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum ambiguum) yesterday at Huntley Meadows Park were perched alone in the bright sunlight, but some of them managed to find mates and were “getting busy.” No matter how many times I have seen this behavior, I continue to be amazed by the unusual and acrobatic method that dragonflies use when mating.
I usually start to see the brightly-colored Blue-faced Meadowhawks in early September, at a time when the overall number of dragonflies is declining and they are one of the signs for me of the end of the summer. This species seems to be generally tolerant of my presence, although some individuals are quite skittish, and I have managed to get some close-up shots of them in the past.
Don’t be surprised to see more photos of the Blue-faced Meadowhawks in upcoming weeks—they are one of my favorite species of dragonflies.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge, Limenitis arthemis, Red-spotted Purple, Red-spotted Purple butterfly, Tamron 180mm on September 8, 2016| 4 Comments »
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge, skipper, skipper butterfly, Tamron 180mm on August 26, 2016| 1 Comment »
Skipper butterflies normally do not get much attention because they are small and are not brightly colored. When you look closely at members of this large family of butterflies, however, you discover an amazing variety of colors and patterns.
Give some love to the skippers. (Click on any one of the images to see all of them full size in slide show mode, unless you are viewing the post in the WordPress Reader, in which, I believe, the images will be shown individually.)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Canon 50D, Dythemis velox, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge, Swift Setwing, Swift Setwing dragonfly, Tamron 180mm on August 25, 2016| 6 Comments »
On Monday I spotted this beautiful Swift Setwing dragonfly (Dythemis velox) at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge at Fort Belvoir, a nearby military base. When I observed one at the same location in June, it was the first time that one had been recorded in Fairfax County, the county in Northern Virginia where I live, so I was a little surprised to see that they are still around.
If you would like to see some photos of my initial sighting, check out my blog posting from June 25. The range of this dragonfly seems to be moving northward and it seems likely that I’ll be seeing this species again next year, since I suspect that mating and egg-laying have been taking place during the past two months.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Fort Belvoir VA, goldenrod, Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge, Junonia coenia, Tamron 180mm on August 24, 2016| 3 Comments »
This Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia) was so focused on the goldenrod flowers that it was either unaware of my presence or simply didn’t care on Monday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge. I was therefore able to capture the beauty of the butterfly from a somewhat unusual angle that lets us see some of the wonderful markings on the body as well as on the wings.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Ailanthus Webworm moth, Atteva aurea, Canon 50D, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge, Tamron 180mm on August 23, 2016| 8 Comments »
My eyes were drawn yesterday to the bright yellow of a patch of goldenrod as I was exploring Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge at nearby Fort Belvoir. From past experience I knew that goldenrod also attracts a wide variety of insects, so I moved in closer with my macro lens at the ready.
There were a lot of skipper butterflies, but what really caught my eye was a small, brightly patterned insect that was crawling around in the goldenrod. Based on its shape, I assumed that it was some kind of beetle, but I had not idea what kind it was. When I returned home and began to do a little research, I was a little shocked to learn that the insect in question was a moth, not a beetle. I am pretty sure that it is an Ailanthus Webworm moth (Atteva aurea).
The colors and patterns of this moth are so spectacular that I think it needs a name that is more descriptive and easier to remember. Any ideas?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher dragonfly, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, obelisk pose, Pachydiplax longipennis, Tamron 180mm on August 18, 2016| 7 Comments »
Blue Dashers (Pachydiplax longipennis) are one of my favorite summer dragonflies. I spotted this one recently at Huntley Meadows Park, perched on the railing of an observation deck in the obelisk pose.
The dragonfly was pretty cooperative and I was able to try few different angles and shooting positions. Although I had my camera’s aperture set to f/10, you can see that the depth of field was relatively shallow and I tried to take advantage of that to isolate the subject and the specific rail on which it was perched.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bees, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, bees, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, Tamron 180mm on August 17, 2016| 5 Comments »
Despite this summer’s scorching heat and high humidity, the bees of Green Spring Gardens were busy at work gathering pollen and sipping nectar during a recent visit to the gardens. I’m certainly no expert on bees, but it looks like there are several different varieties in the photos below.
I’m pretty confident that the bee in the final shot is a carpenter bee because its abdomen is bare and shiny, unlike that of the bumblebee, which has a hairy abdomen. If you look closely at that image, you’ll see that this bee appears to be a nectar robber—it is piercing the flower from the side to extract the nectar and thereby is not playing any role in pollinating the flower.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, mantis, mantis religiosa, praying mantis, Tamron 180mm on August 15, 2016| 7 Comments »
I spotted this Praying Mantis on Saturday at Huntley Meadows Park as it was crawling about on a nesting box for birds in one of the remote areas of the park. I am pretty confident that the nesting box, which was used by Tree Swallows earlier in the year, was no longer in active use—otherwise the mantis probably would not have survived for long. I was struck by the size of the insect, which seemed to be about six inches (15 cm) in length.
I think this may be a Mantis religiosa, one of the more common types of mantises, though Wikipedia notes that there are over 2400 species worldwide, so I could easily be incorrect in my identification.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, dragonfly, hovering dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 180mm on August 13, 2016| 3 Comments »
Yesterday afternoon at Huntley Meadows Park I captured this image of a female dragonfly as she hovered over the water, periodically dipping the tip of her abdomen into the water to lay eggs (and generate ripples).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in abstract, Art, Flowers, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, lotus, past their prime, Tamron 180mm on August 11, 2016| 2 Comments »
The leaves of the lotuses at Green Spring Gardens were well past their prime, but they turned out to be fascinating subjects for a series of abstract images.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Eastern Amberwing, Eastern Amberwing dragonfly, green spring gardens, Perithemis tenera, Tamron 180mm on August 10, 2016| 8 Comments »
I don’t often see dragonflies in a garden, but spotted this female Eastern Amberwing dragonfly (Perithemis tenera) amidst the flowers earlier this week at Green Spring Gardens. There were lots of male Eastern Amberwings buzzing around the small ponds in another location at the gardens in hopeful expectation of finding a mate.
I have the impression that female dragonflies like to hang out in a different area from the males and then make an appearance at a time of their own choosing.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, gladiolas, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm on July 26, 2016| 1 Comment »
When the temperature is 96 degrees outside (about 36 degrees C), it’s hard to have the energy to go far with my camera. Fortunately, my neighbor, fellow photographer Cindy Dyer, has an awesome garden. I was glad to be able to capture this shot of some gladiolas that were blooming there this past weekend.
Thanks, Cindy.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Canon 50D, McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area, Poolesville MD, sunflower, sunflowers, Tamron 180mm on July 25, 2016| 4 Comments »
The bright colors and distinctive shape of sunflowers never fail to bring a smile to my face. Here’s a shot of one from my trip last Friday to McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Poolesville, Maryland.
Normally a shot like this is easy to get when the towering sunflowers reach tall into the sky. In reality, however, the sunflowers at this site were not that tall and I had to crouch low to the ground to capture this image. In addition, many of the sunflowers were a bit wilted and past their peak. One of my Facebook readers commented that it looked like the flowers had their heads bowed in prayer in the following shot, which gives you and idea of the conditions in one area of the field of sunflowers.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in dragonfly, Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher dragonfly, Canon 50D, McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area, Pachydiplax longipennis, Poolesville MD, smile, Tamron 180mm on July 24, 2016| 5 Comments »
How do you get your subject to smile when you want to take a picture? This Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) didn’t need any prompting at all when I went in for an extreme close-up shot yesterday at McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Maryland.
Start each day with a smile.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Black-shouldered Spinyleg, Black-shouldered Spinyleg dragonfly, Canon 50D, Dromogomphus spinosus, McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area, Poolesville MD, Tamron 180mm on July 24, 2016| 4 Comments »
As I was walking through a field of sunflowers at McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Poolesville, Maryland, I spotted an unusual dragonfly that I couldn’t immediately identify. It turned out to be a Black-shouldered Spinyleg dragonfly (Dromogomphus spinosus)—a cool name for a cool-looking dragonfly.
When I first caught sight of the dragonfly, the dragonfly’s long, skinny abdomen and the enlarged area near the end suggested to me that it was a member of the clubtail family of dragonflies. (You can get a really good sense of the shape of the “clubtail” when you look at the shadows in a couple of the images). The only clubtails that I have seen with any kind of regularity have been Common Sanddragons and Unicorn Clubtails, and this was clearly not one of them. When I am out in the field, I don’t worry too much about identification—I practice what I call the “Law of the West,” i.e. “shoot first and ask questions later.”
Later in the day my shooting partner was able to identify the dragonfly after I pointed her to the website “Dragonflies of Northern Virginia.” This website is my favorite resources for information and photos of dragonflies in my area. I checked my past blog postings because I had a vague recollection that I had seen this species before and found a posting indicating that I saw one almost exactly a year ago on a trip to a different part of Maryland.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Banded Pennant, Banded Pennant dragonfly, Canon 50D, Celithemis fasciata, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge, Tamron 180mm on July 22, 2016| 1 Comment »
During a quick trip to Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge at Fort Belvoir, Virginia last weekend, I was thrilled to see that the spectacularly patterned Banded Pennant dragonflies are still around. This is the only location that I visit regularly where I have spotted this dragonfly species and I am never quite sure when an encounter will be the last one of the season.
As I was looking over the two shots that I chose to use with this posting, I realized that they represent two different approaches that I use when photographing dragonflies. Ideally I will try to position myself so that the camera’s sensor is parallel with the dragonfly’s wings and most of the dragonfly will be in focus. That was the case with the second shot and it really highlights the beautiful pattern of the wings. However, the image seems a bit too static for my taste. I prefer the first shot, in part because the pose is more dynamic and the direct eye contact with the dragonfly draws me in.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher dragonfly, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, obelisk pose, Pachydiplax longipennis, Tamron 180mm on July 21, 2016| 3 Comments »
Blue Dasher dragonflies (Pachydiplax longipennis) have become for me one of the signs of summer in the area in which I live. When the weather turns hot and humid, they can often be seen flying lazily over the marshes and ponds, perching frequently on vegetation growing out of the water.
On a recent trip to Green Spring Gardens, I captured some images perched male Blue Dasher dragonflies. In the first shot, the dragonfly was perched on the edge of a lotus leaf. I really like the curves and softness of the leaves, which contrast with the details of the dragonfly. I think too that the shadow cast on the lower leaf adds some additional visual interest to the image.
The second image features a Blue Dasher in the obelisk pose. It is generally believed that some dragonflies assume this pose to dissipate heat by reducing the amount of their bodies that is exposed to direct sunlight. I was shooting partially into the sun, which forced me to overexpose the image a bit and accounts for the lighter background. However, the surface of the water was covered with a lot of duckweed and was not uniform in color. As a result, the background ended ended up with some ugly gray patches that I seemed to be impossible for me to remove.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, tagged abstract, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, green springs garden, lotus, lotus leaves, Tamron 180mm on July 19, 2016| 6 Comments »
This weekend when I visited Green Spring Gardens I was shocked to see that not a single lotus flower was blooming, given that so many were blooming recently at nearby Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens. As I looked in vain for a flower, I somehow became fascinated with the shapes of the leaves of the lotus plants and their interplay with the light and captured these almost abstract images.
These images are definitely different from the ones that I normally post, but I thought I would share them to show you what unexpectedly caught my eye that day.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Cabbage White, Cabbage White butterfly, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Pieris rapae, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm on July 13, 2016| 11 Comments »
How far do you usually travel when you want to take some photos? I capture a lot of my wildlife/nature images in my local area, but generally I get into my car and travel at least a few miles before I begin shooting.
Sometimes, though, I feel the urge to shoot, but don’t really want to travel far. In those moments I will usually walk over to the townhouse of my neighbor, fellow photographer Cindy Dyer, who always seems to have an assortment of photogenic flowers in bloom.
Last week I chased a Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) that I spotted fluttering about the flowers in garden. It passed by the globe thistles and the cone flowers and finally perched for a moment on a lavender plant. The sun was shining brightly, which I knew would create problems in getting a proper exposure of the dazzling white wings of the butterfly. I switched my metering to spot metering and the wings retained their details, but the background became really dark, creating a dramatic lighting effect that I really like. As always, I was thrilled to be able to see the beautiful green eye of this common butterfly that is often ignored or simply taken for granted.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 