I’ve read a lot about how a good photographer sees the world around them differently – expect the unexpected, be ready for whatever life throws at them.  It’s easy to read but much harder to actually live.  The other day when coming home from doing some shopping something pretty crazy happened.  A large and colorful dragonfly decided to camp out on the brick work of our house, right outside the front door.  Normally when you approach wildlife, especial a dragonfly, they leave almost as fast as you head toward them.  It’s no surprise that nature photographers have massive lenses to get them up close and personal.  Well this day was different and the dragonfly just hung out.

Macro photography in nature

As we were unloading the van from our day of shopping walking right past I had expected the dragonfly to take off.  Each one of us walked up slowly took a peak some with cell phones capturing it for Instagram and nothing happened.  All of a sudden I started to see the world differently.  Yes the light bulb went off and I run in to grab my camera.  I had pulled out the Canon 1 DX with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens firmly mounted to it.  Running out I was frantically setting the camera up to capture a few close ups.  After snapping a number of photos I realized that the dragonfly wasn’t going to go anywhere soon.  So off I went and grabbed the Canon EF 100mm F2.8 L IS USM an amazing macro lens.  Often when I’m taking nature photos I’ll bring along this lens.  Nature is so vast from the smallest insect, flower to expanding landscapes.

Nature photos taken with the Canon 1 DX

This is the outcome of my unexpected nature photos.  The sample images shown here were taken with the Canon 1 DX and the two lenses listed above.  Unplanned nature photos can often be the best.