Photography challenges

Getting good photos can be really challenging sometimes. They can require a lot of patience... and sometimes just plain luck. Take yesterday, for instance. I glanced out the kitchen window and saw a lovely butterfly sitting in the grass, looking something like this:

I grabbed the camera, slipped into my garden shoes, and headed outside. The butterfly was not very cooperative. By the time I got out there, it had started flitting around. It landed once in awhile, but it didn't stay put for long.

Hmmm.... not such a great shot....

After several other attempts, I managed to get this still unsatisfactory one:

Then I got this one, and I thought it was the best I could get:

So I turned around and snapped a shot of the new pink growth on an evergreen tree:

I then turned back around to look for the butterfly, glanced down, and here it sat:

Yep, right on my shoe!! Can't ask for a better pose than that, can you?! It stayed long enough for a couple of shots, then a matching butterfly appeared and they both took off over the treetops.

If you're curious (as I was), this happens to be a Mourning Cloak butterfly. You can read some interesting info on it here. Incidentally, that's a great website for identifying butterflies! You can search by butterfly shape, opened wing colors, closed wing colors, or by wingspan. It didn't take me any time at all to figure out what this butterfly is called!