I consider “wildlife” to be any plant or animal that lives its natural life in the wild. It’s interesting how the term seems so often to only refer to mammals (and larger ones at that). On a resent outing to photograph local native flowers and other wildlife, I had the opportunity to work with a number of dragonflies. These really are magnificent insects and I think they are also beautiful.

Dragonflies tend to be difficult subjects because they are quick to fly off when approached, and often choose postures that are not the most interesting (e.g., facing away from the photographer, choosing perches that are hard to isolate, or just too far away). What helps to make for successful imagery though is that dragonflies seem to be habitual users of their habitat. I have often seen them fly off of a perch and then come back to land on it in the exact same posture. This bit of predictability allows for pre-visualization of an image so that when the dragonfly returns, the image may be made.

I’ve rarely been able to work with a dragonfly that chose a perching posture that looked right at me, so this was pretty special. I focused carefully on the eyes which can be done quite exactly because of all of the eye facets, and then concentrated on fine-tuning the composition. I used a Nikon D300 body and a Tamron 180mm macro lens steadied on a Benro tripod with a Really Right Stuff ball head. The 180mmm gave me enough working space and the ability to isolate my subject against a smooth background.

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