Flights of Fancy

As I saunter slowly along the edge of a pond shortly after dawn, my eyes are drawn to that familiar golden sparkle; soft morning sunlight reflected from the wings of a female Meadowhawk dragonfly roosting deep within the thicket of vegetation lining the shore.

And so begins my morning of photographic pleasure as I slowly approach her, gradually permitting her to understand that my camera and I mean her no harm and once that communication between us takes place, I'm free to capture her glistening beauty in a series of photographs at various camera angles and close range zoom levels so the tiny details of her design become mesmerizing elements in my images.

During these shoots, a rapport of sorts develops between myself and dragons. I learn about their instincts and behavior patterns. I learn which angles and zoom levels present them in the most striking ways. And while a dragon remains focused upon its two primary purposes (eating and mating), it does take a little time to acknowledge and engage me, which further heightens this passion I have for capturing their portraits.

In my passion, I was driven to develop ways and means of coping with the challenges of dragonfly macro photography. I needed to learn how to approach and photograph them without scaring them away. I then needed to develop techniques and tricks to improve image appeal. Through several seasons of trial and error, I eventually arrived at a formula for success which is presented in this book. And while improvements to my methods will continue to emerge, the current method is a fine starting point and the book will be revised as we go along.

Dragonfly photographers are a special breed, and you might just be one of us, so without further delay, let's proceed into all you need to know about this unusually captivating hobby.