Right on my doorstep......

Well, just outside the office where I work that is. Not the most inspiring place I can tell you. So I was surprised to see a number of small butterflies resting in the grass early one morning. So the next day I took my macro-lens (Pentax A-100mm f2.8 for the die hard) with me to work. Et voila.

Passers by (including colleagues) must have thought that I was a lunatic, lying down in the grass, but I had lots of fun! It just goes to show that beauty is everywhere, also in the most inconspicuous places.

Btw1: this is the 'Common Blue' or Icarusblauwtje (Polyommatus icarus).

Btw2, if anyone has tips on great places to 'shoot' more butterflies, please let me know.

Common blue laying an egg

Chasing butterflies is requires a lot of patience and persistence. The little blues only sit on a flower for a few seconds. So you need to go down, crawl to get close enough and then hope that it's still there once the lens is focussed. Most times, it is not.......

This little common blue (Polyommatus icarus) however, stayed on a flower unusually long, which gave me the opportunity to get close. And then something wonderful happened - she laid an egg!

I made a little series, which is here.

Les papillons

One of the biggest challenges for every photographer is selection - only show your best work. In particular on a website. Usually I attempt to do this, although it can be very difficult.

But for my butterfly pictures I allow myself an exception. I just had so much fun chasing them and collecting species, that I just cannot be strict. At least not now, maybe later.

So I created a new album under 'nature', with a lot of pics. Many are very pretty, some are there because I am so happy that I spotted the species.

Many of the images feature the Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus), as the one below. And this is for two good reasons; firstly because it is a pretty butterfly. Secondly because it will occasionally sit still - which is pretty handy if you want to photograph it.

Btw I found out that for this type of shots manual focus is far more reliable then autofocus. So if you are looking for a macro lens, get a second hand vintage manual focus model (I mainly use the older Pentax A-100 1:2.8 macro). For a new autofocus lens, make sure the manual focus ring is large and can be reached conveniently. And the viewfinder of the DSLR should be sufficient. Make sure the one you buy has a glass prism, not a mirrorboxthingy - they are dark.

Papillon

Just returned from a trip to France. I spent many hours chasing butterflies - so much fun! Btw, this is a 'common blue' (Polyommatus icarus).

For you blue

Whenever I see a blue in the fields, I can't help chasing it. Now this blue is not blue you may say. And rightly so, this is a female. Rest assured though, you'll find lots of true blue when you click the image.