Pohjoista valoa etsimässä

I have to admit that I normally hate early morning wake-ups. Nature’s own LART (looser attitude readjustment tool) seemed to work perfectly, because it all suddenly changed. I have been longing for dewy dragonfly shots since I saw Sami Karjalainen’s excellent book for the first time long ago. The problem has been my very own and very lazy body (and mind to be honest). I realized that without early morning wakeups there won’t be dewy pictures!

Alarm from my cell phone woke me up at 3:10 and I quickly ate my corn flakes, took my gear and drove to Fleiviiki. I arrived in good time, just before the sunrise! Grasshopper Warbler welcomed me with the Spotted Crake! Oh boy, what a fanfare!

Quite soon I found my first damsels: There were about 30 Common Emerald Damselflies, males and females. Here’s one male:


It was a bit tricky to use 300mm lens inside the cattail growth, so I took the 90mm macro instead for the most of the shots. I had severe difficulties with the ID’s and have to consult my colleagues from the Finnish Dragonfly Society to get the correct ones. This one is female Common Emerald Damselfly:

This is also female Common Emerald Damselfly:

The last one is male Common Emerald Damselfly:

The last two pictures above were shot with the 300mm, all others with the 90mm macro. After three hours of efficient shooting I drove home to take a nap. This wasn’t the whole story, more to come later in a new post!

Edit: Corrected one ID.

300mm, 36 tube, tripod

I have been inspecting dragonflies more than ever this summer, and have been enjoying it! They are so beautiful and well made miracles of the life. Banded demoiselle is more common than Beautiful demoiselle in Pori – usually it is the opposite. This male was willing to pose for me today at Kitukoski and I gladly used the opportunity to shoot. Wish that the light would’ve been little softer though.

Edit: Female added: