Metallic

Late Spring and Summer are the ultimate macro seasons for me. Whilst Autumn is magical for documenting landscapes, color and the migration of birds and Winter for harsh conditions, those birds remaining behind and experimenting with B&W and fine art, late Spring and Summer are 'simpler'. I tend to travel light with a sling bag, just a 100mm Macro lens and the minimal amount of necessary accessories such as batteries, a remote cable release and of course a tripod. Oh yeh, and lots of water and mosquito repellent.

During these seasons my biggest passion are the butterflies. The different varieties flying at different times in different places. The world of butterflies is more than fascinating, though more about these subjects at some other point in time. So, anyway, a close contender to the butterflies are the dragonflies. How obvious. One of the species, the Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) may not be the rarest of all damselflies though for sure its the most beautiful and for sure the most photogenic species of all. It's therefore always exciting to follow waarneming.nl in the Netherlands or then sudenkorento.fi in Finland to find out when the species has started to fly. The first sighting of this year was documented in Finland on 24th of May. It took me until the 7th of June (thanks to the butterflies) to start the search for Banded Demoiselles and photograph them in the early morning.

In my previous blog I already referred to fact that I like to 'produce' images which carry my trademark. Simplicity. Minimalism. Black. White. Something like it. Below you will find some images I was in particular happy with.

An abstract, not sharp, image of a male Banded Demoiselles' wing. Those blueish, purplish, metallic, exotic colors are just from a different world. This unsharp image of the wing creates a much better abstract feeling. The way I like it. Well, now that I said that I need to be 100% honest here as well. I was trying to take pin sharp images of the wing, though as all shots were taken hand-held quite a few failed. Like this one... well... sometimes it still works.

Two male Banded Demoiselles warming up in the early sun light. Again no wind, lucky, so it was rather easy to take this shot. Taken against an almost cloudless sky and converted into a B&W, to create a bit of a fine art effect, using Silver Efex Pro. Simplicity. The way I like it.

A bit of a similar image as the one above it. Shot against a cloudless sky, however not converted into a B&W. Simplicity still rules.

I will have to visit this place shortly again. Still missing quite a few shots I have in mind. Flight shots! Perhaps abstract, likely unsharp... Watch this space.

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