Dragonflies in flight, doing

Lots of nice social media comments on the bee photo in yesterday's blog, thank you! While all that was happening I was wandering through Fish Creek again, downstream of bridge 8. That's the one just beside the LRT tracks.

I've run and biked past there many times, but never right along or through the river. The trees are beginning to turn colour, but the water is still warm and shallow. There was no plan for what I was going to shoot; I just wanted to be out in the sunshine and fresh air.

There were dragonflies! Not as many as I've seen a bit further upstream, but some. If I stood and waited, more of them would show up and fly around me. I've been reading up on dragonflies, and it says they have excellent vision. Maybe if I'm moving they see me as a threat, but standing still I'm just a strange kind of tree or something.

Standing still makes it easier to take photos, especially standing on slippery rocks in ankle deep water. Let's see what order blogger puts them. All were shot with the 70-200 mm lens, which limits how close I could get for the shots when it was resting.

Not the nicest background I admit. It was flying just above the creek, darting in and out almost faster than my eyes could follow. I took lots of shots, and almost all are rejects. Lots and lots of rejects. This is the best one for focus, and it's zoomed in a bit, which is why the background looks terrible. (1/1250 sec exposure if you're wondering what it took to get the wings captured.)

This one is slightly out of focus. The only reason I included it is that two dragonflies are flying formation. They were doing it for a while, and this is the best shot. There was a different pair doing the same thing, but no photos of them. I'm not sure what they're doing, exactly, but I have suspicions. So do you.

Two different views of this one getting some sun on a rock. I was wishing I had the 100 mm lens to get closer. I love looking at the structure of the wings.

I liked the calm reflection of the concrete pillars, and the other diagonal lines.

I'm told this is a Sandpiper, but my buddy says she isn't sure if it's a Greater, a Lesser Yellowlegs, or a Solitary. I didn't see another one around, so maybe that last one.

It's an interesting exercise, trying to stroll along, and be open to whatever might make an interesting photo. Point, line, shape, form, texture, pattern, tone, colour. Stopping often to look around. Listening to the creek as it tumbles over rocks. I liked the patterns of sunlight on the water, and how the rocks shaped the ripples in the water.