Butterfly Lessons

In Film, Inspiration, Nature
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We may have hit a record high in the DC metropolitan area last week with an 80d day in November, but the bare trees don’t lie. We’re well into autumn, and I have, in all likelihood, spotted my last butterfly of the season.

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Each year I seem to turn more and more of my garden over to these beautiful marvels. They amaze and delight me. And as a photographic subject they challenge me in ways almost nothing else does.

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In attempting to catch butterflies with a camera I have learned patience and stillness, because when you become part of the garden, they come to accept you or maybe just ignore you. Either way, they let you get closer.

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In hunting them out, I have honed a visual alertness. I now detect them when their shadows flutter at the edge of my peripheral vision, or from the briefest flash of reflection off a tiny iridescent wing opened for a fraction of a second. The seasonal practice of photographing butterflies in spring and summer is training for my photographic reflexes, which grow a bit sluggish over the winter.

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The more I observe them, the deeper the lessons become. One summer, as my family was struggling to come to terms with a recent chronic health diagnosis, all I seemed to notice were the damaged butterflies. It mattered not to them whether they had a full and resplendent wingspan or a battered, torn and patchy one  –  one antenna or a full set. The wounded found their flowers, did their work and flew on every bit as gracefully as their intact cousins. Butterflies might look fragile, but they are single-minded and resilient – strong even. This was exactly the lesson I needed that year.

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Butterflies have shown me tenacity . . .

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and grace. In this case in a matter of moments from the very same butterfly.

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I don’t think of myself as a nature photographer, or even a butterfly photographer, for that matter, but everything I have learned from my seasonal practice of photographing butterflies informs my photography year-round, no matter the subject.

The sharper reflexes help with photographing children, the ability to blend into my environment helps with street photography, the heightened visual awareness and the patience – well I tap into them almost every time I pick up a camera.

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So now, as I prune the butterfly garden and ready it for winter, I am looking through this year’s collection in my archives, reliving the beauty and wonder my little friends shared with me this summer, and already starting to think about next year’s garden.

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Keep your eyes wide open,

Debbie

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