This photo attracted a lot of likes and comments on social media but it wasn’t what I was after.
I had been trying to shoot several larger dragon flies hovering and feeding together above the pond. Mainly blue and purple, they were occupying the space like a small air force screeching to abrupt hovering halts to stare me down. Holding their positions long enough to offer me the hope of a head-on shot, long enough for me to bring the camera up, but not long enough for me to get what I wanted. I tried everything from 100% manual, to the “sports” setting, and everything in between with no luck….just a lot of frames filled with pond water and a blank focal plane.
Giving up, I sat down in an Adirondack to concentrate on conversation, a can of beer, and some cheese and crackers. After a bit this smaller, less colorful dragonfly appeared at the top of a reed bent like the St. Louis Arch. Just enough time to grab the camera off the side table and shoot, settings just as they had been left. My eye never even caught the dragon fly on the left side. I just saw the reflection, the arch and wanted it. The execution is poor—too much after the moment fiddling needed but perhaps the moment was worth sharing.