I photograph dragonflies for two reasons: 1) as an alternative to capture so I can learn identification of the hundreds of species that occur in the places I travel in the course of a year, and 2) because they are, or most of them are, in my opinion, beautiful. Actually there is a third reason: because I can! The long zoom range on the superzoom Point & Shoot Cameras that I carry make it possible to frame the creatures for both identification and appreciation of their beauty…making an opportunity of every reasonable momentary perch, and without getting close enough to startle them away. An intimate shot, an art shot like this of a Black-tipped Darner, taken from as close as I could physically get, which was still between 10 and 12 feet away, would not be possible without the 2400mm reach of the long zoom (equivalent field of view). And anything less, in my opinion, would not do full justice to the beauty of the dragonfly. The art shot.

Sony HX400V at 2400mm equivalent field of view (1200mm optical plus 2x digital Perfect Image zoom). Processed for HDR effect in Snapseed on my tablet.

And for the Sunday Thought. This shot is from a Friday afternoon visit to Emmons Preserve on my scooter. When I got there I could see the dragons in the air over the meadow behind the Conservation Trust building. Lots of Darners in flight. I like to see lots of Darners, but the fact that they were still actively hunting did not immediately promise many photo ops…and indeed I was convinced I would not find anything to photograph by the end of my first full loop of the meadows trails. It happens.

Photographing dragonflies is a work of faith. Faith is the only thing you have when circumstances are so clearly out of your control. You might be able to pish a reluctant bird to a better perch for photography by making the sounds of other birds harrassing a predator, but there is no way…short of catching it, cooling it, and posing it…of convincing a dragonfly to perch and pose. I do not do the catch and pose thing. (For one thing I do not want to carry ice into the field.) And besides, most days I enjoy exercising my faith.

This day for whatever reason my faith was flagging. By the end of that first loop I was thinking that I was waisting my time, and an hour on the scooter to boot. And then, of course, in a little alcove in the brush and trees surrounding the meadow, made warm by the slanting afternoon sun, I caught my first Darner perching. It only landed for a moment…right behind a Great Spangled Fritillery I was already photographing as it happens…so I was both able and only able to get off a single shot. I had been headed back for the scooter, but this single bit of evidence made me think that maybe the other dragons might be ready to rest. I thought about similar sunny alcoves around the meadows, especially in the meadows beyond the woods to the south of the Trust building which I had not yet checked. Worth a try. I was already there after all.

There were few dragons in the further meadow. My faith took another hit. But then I caught a glimpse of at least three large dragons patrolling the mown grassy lawn the Trust maintains for some reason in a clearing surrounded by big Pines off the overgrown meadow. Half the clearing was in shadow from the Pines, but half, and the wide border of brush and the taller trees along one side, were still in sun, and the dragons were limiting their flights to the sunny area. I went in and stood where they were flying. They paid me no attention…just one more obstacle to maneuver around…and soon I was rewarded when one perched long enough for some photos. It was beyond that wide border in the taller trees, but just in reach of the long zoom. I stayed there more than hour, and caught the Darners perched another dozen times. Oh me of little faith!

The thing about working faith, is that it ought to be constant…not dependent on circumstance. It should not require frequent bolstering by events. Sadly mine is not, and does.

Actually I am thinking there is such a thing as faith in faith. My faith in the loving creator of all might, in fact, not falter, but my faith that faith is always, in every circumstance, enough, does. My faith that the loving creator will once more, right here, right now, for unworthy me, demonstrate love by sending me what I need or want…by intervening on my undeserving behalf in the multitude of circumstances which are beyond my control yet again…that faith in faith does waver depending on my mood, and on how good I am feeling about myself. It should not! Faith has nothing to do with how good I am, and everything to do with how good God is. And yet, once more in a half-sunny clearing in the woods, God sends dragonflies and they perch to reassure me. God is good!

So I walked back once more to the original alcove where the first dragon had perched. And it landed once more, no more than 12 feet beyond the edge of the brush full in the slanting afternoon sun and sat long enough for me to take the image above. The art shot. God is good indeed! Which makes, in fact, the forth reason I photograph dragonflies.