Monday, April 2, 2012
Fire Skimming Dragon

Looking back I see it has been a while since I posted a nature shot. For that matter it has been a while since I really spent some time outside with my macro lens, which is something I'm going to have to work on. In the mean time I found this beauty who was waiting in an old shoot of images from a small duck pond in Goleta.

This little Dragon is called a Flame Skimmer. The detail on his (or her) wings is so beautiful. I have always loved chasing them with my camera. This shot was taken while hanging akwardly off of a bridge over a small duck pond, it seemed that was his favorite spot. And while he would land other places, the perch over the side of the bridge was where he was comforatble enough to let me get close. It took some patience, but I was able to get close enough over the period of about five minutes to get the shot I wanted.

Monday, September 22, 2008
Flexible Damsel

Well that looks kind of painful. If I sleep funny on my pillow I have to go to the chiropractor in the morning. Of course I guess that would not be a problem if I was that flexible.

Monday, September 15, 2008
Resting Damsel

Well, you learn something new every day. One of the things that help you identify Dragonflies vs Damselflies is the fact that the Dragonflies usually hold their wings out to the sides and the Damselflies fold their wings back along their body.

Of course, this evening I learned there is a group of Damselflies called "Spreadwings". And, if you have not already guessed by the name, they hold their wings out like Dragonflies.

The thing that gave it away is the other distinction is the fact that Dragonflies' eyes usually touch. (Check out my blue-eyed Darner for an example.) So this guy (or more likely girl) was a little hard to identify at first.

My wife pointed her out to me when she was watering some plants yesterday. In fact you can see a couple of water drops on the base of her right wing (top wing in the photo). She was very cooperative! (that would be the damselfly, not my wife. Although she is pretty cooperative too.)

Monday, June 18, 2007
Resting Dragon

This is actually an older shot, one of my favorites. In fact it is one of the images on my business card.

The branch is a dead branch on a ficus tree that we saved from being thrown away. It was sitting on the patio of our old apartment and the branch was hanging out over the railing. Unfortunately, shooting straight out would have given me a background of the next apartment building. I had to lean out to get a better angle with trees and filtered sun in the background. Even though the background is totally out of focus, this made for a much nicer shot.

BTW, the ficus is much happier these days. It is in the back yard and growing like crazy. We are a little crazy that way. We like to save things and nurse them back to health. Plants, hound dogs whatever needs a home! I must get that from my parents.

Monday, June 11, 2007
Flame Skimmer

This is another image that I like as much for the background as the subject itself. Getting a nice picture of something is not as hard if that is all you are concentrating on. Creating a beautiful image is a bit more work. Suddenly that garbage can in the background becomes an issue. :-D

Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Somebody's Watchin'

This is a closer crop of one of my shots of the dragon from a couple of weeks ago. (Sorry to any Entophobics out there!) I like this shot not only because you can actually make out the hexagonal segments of his eyes. Which is pretty cool, but also because of the shadows of the hairs. There are hairs between his eyes, you cant see them, they are pointing straight at the camera. But you can see the shadows on his eye.

Friday, November 3, 2006
Blue-eyed Darner

We spent the last couple of days in Pismo Beach, it was a nice place to spend a few days.

One of the places we wandered into after lunch was a garden store that had all kinds of interesting plants and things. The most interesting of them was this Dragonfly that buzzed me when I was looking at a fountain (his fountain?) Of course he froze when I found his perch which gave me a great opportunity to get some nice shots of him.

His eyes are extremely beautiful, you can see the hexagonal structure of the segments of his eyes in the shape of the highlight on his left eye.

Saturday, September 16, 2006
Resting Dragon

This is another one of those subjects you can easily walk by without noticing. I was about to get in the car and he was down near the ground. His wings are not out of focus, they are actually fluttering. I think that's what caught my eye.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Red Dragon

I like dragonflies and this guy and his friends were putting on quite a show. They were diving down to the surface of the water and skimming across it (hence the name I guess,) I got a few action shots but this is my favorite!

While I was trying to identify this guy I found many sites incorrectly identifying damsel flies as dragonflies. The way you tell the difference is by how they hold their wings when they are resting. This is a dragonfly, wings perpendicular to the body. A damselfly holds it's wings back against it's body.

Saturday, February 19, 2005
Dragon

Proof that dragons once roamed the earth! (or at least the skies)

Don't believe me? Well imagine this guy's great-great-great-gran'daddy with a wingspan of well over half a meter. Making them among the largest flying insects ever known, and the largest thing in the sky at the time. Of course that was millions of years ago. In fact, these insects were around long before the dinosaurs.

• Living fossils
  Other interesting plants and animals that have remained virtually unchanged since pre-historic times.
• The Wollemi Pine
  Perhaps that giant dragon flew over these trees. The trees were thought to be extinct until 1994 when a small grove of them was found near Sydney Australia. You will soon be able to help preserve the tree by purchasing one of them (cultivated in captivity) for your garden.