Hanging Out, Literally

Damselflies.

Early morning. The dragonflies are still snoozing on dry flowers, pretending the day hasn’t started. 

And me? Armed only with a telephoto lens, as if I’d come to hunt elephants instead of insects. 

Probably the whole story would have turned out differently if I’d packed my macro lens but I was lazy. The rule of survival: shoot with what you’ve got and hope it works.

Generally, life is good.

Bridge Into Eternity

 

Generally, life is good.

Aviator in Flight

 

A male Emperor Dragonfly. 

Generally, life is good.

 

Awakening

 

All night, the Water lily bud was closed but early in the morning it began to awake up, greeting a dragonfly.  The flower was like a smile, gradually widening.  

That quiet early morning the Water lily was a solitary triumph, a silent explosion of beauty, newly awake and utterly glorious on the shimmering surface of the little pond.

I found this beautiful Water lily at our local Nature center.

Generally, life is good.

Caught in Mid-thought

 

A Meadowhawk dragonfly is balancing between earth and sky.

Generally, life is good.

Notes to Self. Fly Dragonfly, Fly...

 

Inspiration is capricious and fleeting. At times, it graces you with its presence, and suddenly you see an ordinary moment in an extraordinary way. You intuitively understand: this moment is yours. It is rich with meaning, holding within it the very essence of life and all its intricacies.

And as you sink into this moment, surprise arises—how had you not noticed before the curved, fragile blade of grass, the humble wild bellflower, the tiny grasshopper poised motionless on a long stem?

In that surprise, inspiration awakens. It gives you wings to soar into another universe—one that belongs only to you. And you believe that your camera will not fail you, that it will truly see what you have imagined.

Generally, life is good.

Notes to Self. Dry Beauty

Prairie Shoestring (Amorpha canescens) is known for its drought tolerance and ability to thrive in dry conditions.

After numerous failed attempts, I finally managed to take one decent photo of this dry beauty.  Sure, the background could have been better but I got what I got.

***

One week ago I did what I have never done before: I bought a used Micro Nikkor 105mm f2/8 lens from Adorama. 

My only hope was that lens would arrive in decent condition and work well.  When the lens arrived it exceeded my expectations. The lens was almost like new.

What I didn't know about this lens is that it is very different from all other lenses and is not easy to use due to the high magnification. 

My first shots with this lens were terrible, dark and blurry and they often remain that way. 

Not knowing what to do, I asked AI, in my case ChatGPT, what I was doing wrong, and to my surprise it gave me a detailed guide how to use this lens. 

I jumped into this adventure with absolutely no knowledge about macro photography, and the learning curve is going to be long and painful... 

Generally, life is good.

In the Wasatch Mountains. Dragonflies

 

Mountain dragonflies are simple, but very beautiful in their own way. Their life is short, but for them it is eternity.

Generally, life is good.

Dragonfly for Breakfast

 

This summer is very different at the Bear River MBR.  I have never seen so many Snowy Egrets before. There are flocks of them out there. 

The egrets seem to be everywhere. Some of them prefer to gather in flocks, others are more independent and fish alone.

The Snowy Egret above surprised me because it caught a dragonfly for breakfast, which the bird shook vigorously in the air for a long time before swallowing it.  I had never seen anything like it and was happy to get some photos of this interesting moment.

Generally, life is good.

In The Wasatch Mountains - XII. Forest Bathing

 

I recently learned about bathing in the forest.  Forest bathing originated in Japan, where they call it shinrin-yoku. The Japanese see forest bathing is serious medicine.  Trees are healers.  

The first rule of forest bathing is that you walk very slowly.

Our forests mostly are high in the mountains and a few days ago I went for my first forest bathing and hiked in the mountains very slow.

Nothing really happened - but that is the whole point. I listened to the birds, photographed dragonflies and butterflies.

I didn't bring my phone with me to the woods, turned off the radio while driving home and everything looked a little more vivid and different. 

Butterfly landed briefly on the flowers to collect nectar.

A big fat wasp is feasting on the mountains flowers.

A dragonfly that looks like an alien who visited our planet.

Life goes on.

Spring in the Wasatch Mountains - VIII.

No birds today in this post only a wasp, a lizard and dragonflies. And of course cactuses who bloom beautifully right now in the mountains.

A big fat wasp is feasting on the mountains flowers.

This lizard was running on the hiking trail in front of me for a while. I have never seen lizards in the Wasatch mountains and was happy to photograph him.

A dragonfly that looks like an alien who visited our planet.

Family of cactuses are in a full bloom.  

The same lizard is posing for a few seconds.

And another dragonfly.


We are still in the spring until June 21st but for me summer is already started like in my native country Lithuania.

Mini World - 11. The Sound of No Sound

This  photograph was taken in August of 2018.  Looking right now at this photo I think I photographed silence.

That late summer day I was at Bear river and there were no birds around. I was frustrated and not happy about it. I thought, how unfair that I drove for almost two hours to the desert and the birds even didn't care to show up. 

Then I sat on the dry grass. Miserable and angry. It was so quiet and peaceful. I looked around and there was a dragon fly, I and comforting silence. 

We used to think about silence as the absence of sound, yet it's also a very powerful sound. The sound of light breeze, the sound of hot air, the sound of life.  The sound of my thoughts that I am here, I live, I exist and all wonders of life are already here, I only have to notice them.  How simple it is and how difficult in our crazy busy life.

Fleeting Moments

She was sitting still during fifteen minutes while I was taking pictures.   
The best model I have ever had!   

The cottonwood trees are blooming 
and spreading their blooms in every possible place.

Dragonfly

Little Dragonfly