Monarch in Butterfly Bush

Sitting here watching the weather advisories and warnings going up for our area so I thought it might be a good time to post another warm fuzzy summertime image.  I shot this beautiful little Monarch butterfly in my backyard last year as it set and fed on one of the butterfly bushes I planted  for that very reason.  Its nice when you plan on something happening and it actually works, the only problem is you still have to get the photograph right !!

Once again chasing butterflies has made me feel like Captain Ahab and his quest for the Great White Whale, except a little smaller and drier.  I guess getting one good shot for every 30-40 is not a bad ratio, I might not have gotten any.

But hey I did manage to capture a few and at least I have something to share with you now on this cold winter day. I hope you enjoy the image and thanks for stopping by !!

 

                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

Butterflies

Since I woke up to a dreary cold mid-winter Madison Indiana landscape I thought a nice warm spring pic would brighten up your day…at least it might mine !!

I shot this one early last May om beautiful day warm spring day somewhere in the eastern part of Jefferson County Indiana, I believe it was at Splinter Ridge Wildlife Area. The butterflies were on the move that day and no matter how hard I worked to get the right shot they were so spooky even the stateliest approach sent them scurrying for new flowers to feed on. It was the same pattern time after time, spot butterfly make my approach watch butterfly fly off.

After the continued futile effort of this method of photography I finally decided to just find a nice spot, open my diet coke and sit back and hope for the best at a predestined spot.  And to my complete surprise after just a few minutes these two beautiful  Great Spangled Fritillaries  landed directly in front of me and began to feed. Even though I was never able to get them with both faces in the frame the shot did come out quite well.

So I guess the moral of the story could be “good things come to those who wait” or  ” sit on butt open diet coke get lucky go home” I think in this instance more of the latter lol !!

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

 

                                                                                                                                                        

More Great Smoky Mountain Wildflowers

I thought I might share another shot from trip into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park this past spring.  This trip was all about wildflowers and did I ever luck into a great bloom this year, but for all my work in the Park I only came away with a few of what I would call environmental shots of wildflowers. Most of my images were of isolated groups of flowers and not of what was also surrounding the flowers.

But I was able to come away with a special shot, and that was one that pretty much summed up my whole trip. This image from the Chimneys Picnic Area was  a  great example of what a super boom looks like, what you are seeing is a whole mountainside of White Fringed Phacelia all along the Cove Hardwood Nature Trail that begins in the Picnic Area.

The picture doesn’t give the actual scene any justice, up thru the massive hillside this beautiful little bloom blanketed the mountain like a freshly fallen snow, and if the view wasn’t enough the fragrance of this little gem engulfed you the second you stepped out of your vehicle !!

And all in between these little blooms tens of thousands of Trillium,phlox and violets and every other wildflower you can imagine interspersed the entire scene, anyone who loves to hike or just be outdoors this special spot is a must at least once in your lifetime.

If you get a chance to travel to the Smoky Mountains this place is a must and there many other trails with scenery as beautiful as this, hope you enjoyed the photograph and for best results please click on the image !!

                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

 

Great Smoky Mountain National Park Wildflowers

Here are a few more wildflower pics from the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, I shot these in late March and actually came away with a large amount of images from this trip, conditions were just about perfect from this spring and it was a wonderful trip to the park.

I think I just about captured every species that was in bloom at the time of visit, I am sure I missed a few though, there are far too many to keep up with but it was a pleasure trying.

I wanted to share a few with you starting with Fire Pink then Foam Flower and finally Wild Columbine. All three were shot within yards of each other along the Bud Ogle Nature Trail right off The Roaring Fork, this is a beautiful road that you can drive along and find great trails along it’s length, there are many outstanding views of The Roaring Fork and it’s many wonderful cascades all thru out your trip.

All three of these flowers were very easy to shoot there was hardly any wind to speak of thru my entire trip and the wildflowers were at peak bloom thru my stay.  If you ever get a chance to go to the Park, definitely make sure you get out of your car and hike a bit, it’s incredible to me that most people who travel there might drive thru the park and then spend most of their time shopping in Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg.  If shopping is your thing thats fine, but by all means take the time to take a walk thru the woods it can truly be a life altering experience for you, especially in the spring or fall !!

So here are the flowers that you can see all along your hike and there too many more to post now but I will try to share then every no  and then for you to see, thanks for stopping by and taking a look !!

And don’t forget to click on the images for best results.

 

 

Fire Pink

                                                                                                                                                            

Foam Flower

                                                                                                                                                                              

 

Wild Columbine

                                                                                                                                                                              

“Smoky Mountain Wildflowers”

I got an evening off so I thought I might share a photo or two from a recent trip to The Great Smoky Mountain National Park where I was able to capture a quite a few very nice images from the Tennessee Mountains.

It was one of the best  wildflower seasons I ever have been part of here in Madison Indiana and it was no different in the Southern Mountains. Just about every species was in full bloom when I got there and I was able to add some great shots to my portfolio.

Here are a couple shots of Trillium that I was able to capture while I was there..identifying these sometime gets a little tricky so excuse me if I mistake them.

The first one is a Sweet White Trillium followed by a Large Flowering Trillium…hopefully lol !!

So there you go if you got a positive id on these don’t be bashful, let me know so I won’t make that mistake again !!

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look, and don’t forget to click on the image for best viewing.

                                                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                             Sweet White Trillium

                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                                 Large Flowering Trillium