From metal giraffes lets go to dragonflies, or rather a damselfly in this case. I don't photograph insects as a rule, it is a specialised area of photography that I'm not really geared up for, but I was out in Ashdown Forest last year and came across a number of these and was determined to get something. As luck would have it I had a Sigma 105mm macro lense in my rucksack, which I normally use for wedding ring and jewellery closeups, but was also ideal for this.
I watched them for a while and they seemed to favour a couple of particular ferns to stop for a rest on every so often, so I mounted the camera on my tripod, focussed on a likely looking leaf and waited. Unfortunately this meant standing knee deep in a rather cold stream for the best part of an hour (with unseen things nibbling at my legs I discovered later). After a short while they ignored me completely and I finally got this shot. Strictly speaking the light is too contrasty to call it a great shot, but I'm quite pleased with it.
From looking at the British Dragonfly website I am pretty sure this is a male Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo), although if anyone knows better please feel free to correct me.
If you would like to know more about dragonflies and damselflies have a look at their website http://www.dragonflysoc.org.uk/ it's very informative, with a lot of useful information. They should be out again in the near future, so I'm looking forward to having another go at photographing them this year.
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