Clouded Apollo

During the Summer of 2013, I already got lucky. A good friend of mine took me to an interesting place in the South West of Finland to photograph Parnassius apollo. The beautiful Apollo. A butterfly. And a butterfly I had never seen before. Yes, on photos. And it was exactly those photos, those images from other photographers which made me realize that the Parnassius apollo is for sure one of the most beautiful species of butterfly on earth. There is, however, another beautiful species of butterfly which is related to the 'big' Apollo and that's the Clouded Apollo, Parnassius mnemosyne, which is likely more photogenic to photograph. And equally important it flies in Finland.

During this Spring I was hoping to see and photograph the Clouded Apollo and 'produce' images which carry my trademark. Simplicity. Minimalism. Black. White. Sometimes accompanied with a dot of color. Below just a few shots.

Two male Clouded Apollos clamping onto delicate grass culms. No wind. Shot against an almost cloudless sky and converted into a B&W using Silver Efex Pro. Simplicity.

Low and wide angle (24mm) image of a Clouded Apollo warming up in the early morning light. Its early... 6.25 a.m.

Same image as the one on top, however one male singled out.

Was also able to find a female Clouded Apollo which had the sphragis already in place.

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