What a Dragonfly Taught Me About Photography

Most people assume a dragonfly shot comes down to reflexes. Fast hands, fast shutter, right place at the right time. I believed that too, for about two weeks.

Those two weeks were humbling. I'd spot one perched on a reed, wings catching the light just right, and I'd move in for the shot, only to watch it lift off the instant I got close enough to focus. I'd find it twenty feet away, try, and lose it again. I did this for the better part of an afternoon at a pond, sweating, half-crouched, convinced the problem was my speed. I just needed to move faster, get closer quicker, beat the dragonfly to the punch.

I never caught the dragonfly. Not once.