Butterfly Photography: A Practice in Optimism
nothing stretches the muscles of optimism more than chasing butterflies!
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So, this is what usually happens when I take pictures of butterflies:
See butterfly.
Grab camera.
Butterfly flies to the other side of the property.
Follow with camera.
Butterfly rests on blossom.
Lift camera.
Ease closer to butterfly.
Fine-tune focus.
Butterfly departs as shutter clicks.
Butterfly rests tantalizingly on another blossom.
Hesitate. It won’t be there for long, will it?
Butterfly remains on blossom.
Lift camera.
Ease closer to butterfly.
Fine-tune focus.
Butterfly departs as shutter clicks.
Butterfly flies to the other side of the property.
Exasperation. Laughter. Head-shaking. Wait, did it just land again?
And. Repeat. Often.
I’ve walked many a patient back-and-forth mile in the wake of a butterfly. And this is proof that I remain an optimist in a world increasingly intent on pounding me into resignation! 🤣
I take lots and lots of photos of butterflies in the hopes of getting just one keeper. Most are blurry, or too far away, or only capture the tack-sharp location where the butterfly used to be. I accept this as the standard process of butterfly photography.
But this one particular week, I got to enjoy a special moment. Perhaps it was a reward for my long years of patient, devoted, uncomplaining* practice under the rules of the craft!
*I’m sure there were no witnesses to any alleged complaining and you can’t prove anything.
This butterfly, a Tiger Swallowtail, was apparently in the mood for a photo shoot. She landed on a blossom right next to where I was weeding. And when I returned from grabbing my camera, she was still there!!!
Maybe the sun was especially warm, or the chives especially delicious.
I think, most likely, that I just happened to be especially invisible, just ever-so-perfectly beneath notice. I snapped away as she calmly drank.
And then she fluttered…even closer!?! And settled down again!!!
It defies all universal laws of butterfly behavior. It is absolute evidence of chaos theory, the butterfly effect, in which one tiny change in one tiny condition, invisible and unpredictable, changes everything you thought you could expect about how a system would operate. And I’ll just take it.
It is enormously satisfying to be entirely ignored by a wild neighbor. And that is why this ended up being an entire Nature Moment, instead of just a short note shared out across social media. Any time you end up with 10+ photos of a single swallowtail, it’s worth taking an essay to acknowledge 🤣
My daughter, of course, has days like this all the time! Something about being young (I’m sure that’s part of it), or she’s a nature-whisperer (I am also absolutely convinced this is true). Whatever it is, the little Peck’s Skippers regularly completely ignore her, and she effortlessly takes dozens of up-close portraits of these adorable stained-glass butterflies.
My advice? Be an optimist. Chase the butterflies. Because no matter what else happens, the chase is always good for you. 🦋💕
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Lovely Sydney! I love chasing butterflies! This line resonated with me, "It is enormously satisfying to be entirely ignored by a wild neighbor." It is such a wonderful feeling to be out in nature and have wildlife around you and they just carry on like you are not there!
Wonderful and lovely. You have the skill and the patience, and perhaps the most important point, you have gained the trust of butterflies. The word is out. You are the rare human that can be trusted. A high honour, indeed.