This weekend, I went for a walk at a nature center in the Hudson Valley. The weather was quintessential summer – warm, brilliantly sunny and clear – and the forest was alive with life: swarms of bees, butterflies and moths doing the daily work of pollination, dragonflies darting over the water, a symphony of birds in the trees, even a snapping turtle basking in the sun. This was one of my most cooperative photo subjects, who took the time to pose and display the iridescent photonic crystals that give butterfly wings such striking colors.
Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus), Hudson Highlands Nature Center, July 2010. Photo by the author. Camera details: Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS. Click for larger version.