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"Angelwing." A Satyr Angelwing butterfly (Polygonia satyrus) warms itself by basking on the sunny side of an aspen tree. These butterflies feed on tree sap more than flower nectar, and their eggs and caterpillars rely almost exclusively on thistle plants.
"Diamonds in the Sky." The evening sun gets refracted into dozens of rainbow-colored diamonds as it passes through a dragonfly's transparent wings.
"Lady in Red." Ladybug beetles love to eat aphids, and aphids often live on thistle plants. So thistles are a good place to look for Ladybugs.
"New Wings." After emerging from a chrysalis, a Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly climbs to the top of a flower and spreads its new wings to dry, in preparation for its first flight. Behind the lens. I arrived on the scene after this butterfly had emerged and was approaching the top of the flower. It was unable to fly with its wrinkly, new wings. But as it inflated the delicate wings with fluid, it slowly began to take on the familiar shape that we all recognize. Once I was down at eye level, I tried positioning my lens to be parallel to the plane of the wings, but the butterfly kept turning. So I settled for the cleanest and most pleasing background.
"Daisy Skipper." A skipper butterfly lands on a Coreopsis Daisy, unknowingly picking up pollen that it will carry along to the next flower. Behind the lens. Skippers are the chunkier members of the butterfly family, named for the way in which they dart to and fro. (I never pass up the chance to use the word, "fro.") Butterflies are normally very wary and hard to approach. This one, on the other hand, let me get down at butterfly-eye level, wrestle my tripod into place, and generally muck around in the grass for some time. After I started, I moved my whole set-up around so that another coreopsis flower would make up the blurred background surrounding the butterfly. At the risk of repeating myself, photographs taken at your subject's eye level are almost always more interesting.
"Western Yellowjacket." Ants, bees and wasps belong to the insect order Hymenoptera. Our western yellowjacket is a wasp, as are the critters that we call hornets, mud duabers and paper wasps. Most of the 100,000-plus wasp species help us out by feeding on other insects.
"Dragonfly Dew." The morning dew glistens on the wings and body of a perched dragonfly. Behind the lens. This is a full-body image of the same dragonfly species as "Gossamer Wings," photographed on a different day in a different location.
"Gossamer Wings." A summer-time dragonfly rests its gossamer wings on a timothy grass seed head. (Note cards available here.) Behind the lens. People viewing large versions of this photograph often ask me if it's a painting. I used a relatively new macro photography technique to get amazing detail in this portrait of a fascinating creature. (Hint: I used a 20-year-old macro lens along with an extension tube, but I do have to keep a few secrets to myself!) Did you know that dragonflies can fly backwards, or reach speeds of 35 mph? They can also sit perfectly still on a grass stem and do a pretty good imitation of a stained-glass window.
"Ponderosa Moonset." The crescent moon sets behind an ancient ponderosa pine tree. How many moons has this tree witnessed? Behind the lens. There are worse ways to spend one's nights than watching the moonset over "Lost Trail National Wildlife Refuge." The refuge is a peaceful valley in northwestern Montana, about 40 miles west of Kalispell, not too far from where Tracy and I live. Creating this photograph meant spending two nights sitting out in the grassy hillside above Dahl Lake. On the first night, the moon failed to cooperate and set in the wrong location, just missing the tree. So I returned the next night, learning from my mistakes and adjusting my camera location accordingly. Low clouds moving in and out meant changing my aperature settings every couple of minutes, until the sky finally cleared around 2 AM. Then I could sit back and enjoy the deer feeding below me, the bats feeding above, and the occassional odd duck quack. Not a bad way to spend a midsummer's night...
"Lady in Red."

Ladybug beetles love to eat aphids, and aphids often live on thistle plants. So thistles are a good place to look for Ladybugs.
Ladybug beetles love to eat aphids, and aphids often live on thistle plants. So thistles are a good place to look for Ladybugs." href="javascript:openLB(1636093226,'',XLarge,'',768,768);">"Lady in Red." Ladybug beetles love to eat aphids, and aphids often live on thistle plants. So thistles are a good place to look for Ladybugs.
"Lady in Red."

Ladybug beetles love to eat aphids, and aphids often live on thistle plants. So thistles are a good place to look for Ladybugs.
See photo in original gallery.
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All text and images © Copyright John Ashley. All rights reserved.