Dragonflies; probably one of the most beloved of insects. They are beautiful, good sized, friendly enough to land on us, accomplished flyers, do not bite, and they eat mosquitoes. They are approachable, not camera shy, and though there’s no predicting when they’ll land or take off, they do tend to return quite often to the same perch so you can continue shooting. The technical term for the soft focus effect caused by a lens set to a narrow depth of field (focus) is “bokeh.” The better the lens, the nicer the bokeh. Bokeh is perfect for portraits because it separates the subject from the background and provides a flattering backdrop of blended colors and shapes. For this shot, it created spots from the bubbles on the pond surface and the “winglight” from the reflection of the sun.
It began as a study of isolation. Amongst the tens of thousands of snow geese there stood, one, lone sandhill crane. There were hundreds of other cranes on the pond but most were grouped together along the edge of the sea of geese. Somehow this gal got stranded in the middle. The sandhills were already on the pond when the geese flew in. And when the geese come they arrive all at once and blanket the pond in a matter of seconds. So it’s likely that this crane was just caught off guard and when the feathers settled she found herself surrounded. It was an interesting juxtaposition. I shot a single frame with the crane centered and then recorded a few frames on either side imagining I would combine them into a panorama. Then she slowly began to move, picking her way through and high stepping over the congestion of geese. Gradually she broke into a trot, which became a run, and turned into a take-off as I merrily tracked along with her. It became a study in motion.
