A couple of years ago I took on the challenge of trying to capture dragonflies in flight. My good friend and photo buddy, John, had already had amazing success with this and was generous enough to give me some good tips, the key one of which was "use manual focus".  Having learned photography in the days before there was autofocus (or auto anything for that matter) probably helped, but it still took many hours of practice and experimentation until I could get consistently happy results. As for getting flight shots of butterflies - well, that's still a "work in progress". I'll let you know if I have any luck with that.

Use my CONTACT page to e-mail me if you're interested in tips for photographing dragonflies in flight, or if you want to learn about good spots to find dragonflies near Olympia, WA.

OK, well not now, but in prehistoric times when they had wingspreads up to 4 ft, these amazing aerial predators would have been very scary indeed. This is a great time of the year to look for dragonflies near ponds or maybe even in your own backyard. Patient scanning of vegetation near a pond may reveal a perched dragonfly which, if approached slowly, may reward you with a close look at one of these beauties. Happy hunting. 

Stay tuned for an upcoming blog when I'll share some photos of dragonflies in flight.

Went to Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge early yesterday and managed to have a bit of quiet time before the crowds arrived. While standing on the boardwalk leading to the Twin Barns and trying to get a look at some elusive warblers, I noticed a Pacific Treefrog (aka Pacific Chorus Frog) climbing a blade of grass. I started looking around and soon realized that these little frogs were everywhere. Almost all were less than an inch long and I saw a few that would have easily fit on the nail of my little finger. The variety of markings and colors on these little gems never ceases to amaze me.

OK, I know this isn't a wildlife shot, but on the other hand, it does have wings and flies, so I couldn't resist it. Caught this beautiful P-51 Mustang (named "American Beauty") of the Olympic Air Museum at the air show yesterday. Love these old planes for their history, their beauty and the awesome roar of their engines. Note: the black and white "invasion stripes" were used starting on D-Day to help Allied ground forces from mistaking them as enemy aircraft.

Had a surprise visitor yesterday.  My wife saw this Barred Owl fly into a tree on the edge of our yard.  Later that night we heard it calling.  Pretty sure it's one of the juveniles that's been hanging around our neighborhood.