Back to Reality!

I returned from Destin over the weekend, and I have so many photos to look at and share. I’ll get them on the website soon.

I love doing travel photography.

I came across some gorgeous subjects that were begging to be photographed.

Admittedly, I spent some time on the beach this trip, and I only got up to take sunrise photos once. It was definitely worth the early wake-up call, especially for the shot I got of the sand dunes.

I definitely got some work done, though.

Butterflies!

Oh my - it’s Monarch season, and the butterflies were dancing all over the Lantana bushes. It felt like they were raining down everywhere along the flower bushes. I remember experiencing a similar phenomenon as a child in California, but I haven’t seen anything like this in a long time.

It’s therapeutic watching all those otherworldly creatures flitting about. We saw them several days in a row while walking the dogs, but they didn’t seem to be out at all times of the day.

One afternoon, however, I came in off the beach for a few minutes to take Bauer on a short walk. I noticed that it was the time of day to see the butterflies.

Bauer was intrigued by them, trying to jump up and catch one. Thankfully, he had no luck, since I kept pulling him away. But there was no way I could get a good photograph while dealing with him jumping around.

Patience!

After putting Bauer back in the condo, I grabbed my camera and ran back outside, flip-flops noisily smacking the pavement.

I sat down right in the middle of the sidewalk in front of the bushes near the condo complex wearing nothing but my bikini with a wrap hastily tied around my waist.

The sidewalk was HOT, but down low in front of the bushes offered the best photographic angle. I got a few odd looks from passersby.

Oh well, it’s the beach, right?

I could sit for hours and watch the butterflies flit around...but, then again, sitting waiting to get the “perfect” shot (no more perfection!) was trying my patience. Seriously. Every time I thought I was about to get “the shot,” the butterfly flitted away. I kept on pressing the shutter button anyway in the hopes I’d get something worth keeping.

Photography may be all about light, but it’s also seriously about patience - at least when you’re photographing moving subjects.

And though there were hundreds of butterflies, I couldn’t seem to capture more than two at a time, and only with one in focus.

In the end, I got a few shots I was happy with. I was shooting with my 85-mm prime. It’s a wonderful piece of glass, but not a 1:1 ratio, so I couldn’t get the butterflies as up-close as I would have liked.

I was just so happy sitting there watching. It’s rare to see so many butterflies in one place.  

I’m a photographer, but sometimes I need to simply sit and enjoy and not let that itchy camera finger get all the attention.

It was one of life’s little magical moments, meant to be savored as well as photographed.

Wishing you many magical moments!

See you between the raindrops…   Susan

You can find these prints on the Florida page