This newly born Monarch apparently emerged from its chrysalis with a malformed left wing, and did not fly merrily away when it gained its freedom. A neighbour of ours nurtures these lovely creatures from the egg stage, right up until she releases them to great blue sky, and hopefully will eventually find their way to Mexico when they migrate at the end of Summer. She presented me with this Monarch clinging to the bouquet of flowers from her garden, and told me to get my camera for a picture while it was still alive. So I immediately grabbed my piece of black velvet, and draped it over the towel rod in the kitchen beside a North window. The lighting is a combination of natural ambient light from the window, and my flash bounced straight up off off the ceiling. This made for very flat lighting, but very rich none the less. Later, I took it outside and watched it trying to fly away, but was having a lot of difficulty doing so. A little while later, I looked out of the window, and it was gone. I have no idea if it actually succeeded in flying, or if a bird had it for dinner. At any rate, even though it was not a perfect specimen, it still looked quite lovely sitting among the flowers in the vase. Why do I bother shooting this kind of thing? It takes me away from the concerns of the world for a few minutes of enjoyment....hope you enjoy it a little also....Cheers!
