The Story Behind the Butterfly
We always receive such wonderful comments on our famous butterfly photograph. There is a story behind the creation of this image that not too many people have heard.
It was late in the growing season. We had a warm summer and just a few weeks earlier most of the colorful flowers were in full bloom. We had been photographing them when the light was just right and finding the time to enjoy summer for what it was, knowing full well that in the midwest it would soon give way to cold temperatures and shorter days.
I remember the day like it was yesterday. It was a cool dreary day and it had rained all morning and we were stuck, inside the house. I really didn't want to spend the entire day inside and I was itching to get out and do some shooting. Looking at the weather forecast I noticed that there was a slight break in the rain showers. So I asked Steve if we could take a chance and drive a little north to Michigan to this wonderful little botanical garden that I had heard so much about. We knew that we only had a few more weeks of flowering blooms so we figured why not.
We arrived at the gardens about an hour later and sure enough, as soon as we stepped out of our vehicle it started to rain. Not too heavily though so we proceeded to enter the gardens. We paid our admission and the helper at the counter looked at us sort of strangely, but never the less, she was happy to take our entry fee.
We strolled around the gardens. We had the entire place to ourselves because of the weather. A good tip, go to gardens on dreary days, it keeps the crowds away, and most of the pesty bugs.
But after all, summer was almost over and most of the beautiful delicate flowers had all withered away. Just as we were close to the end of the trail and about the leave the park, a little wet from the rain and a little sad that there weren't any photo opportunities we turned the corner and this what we saw. A patch of flowers, really one of only a couple left in the gardens and an absolutely beautiful viceroy butterfly!
Here's where the story gets interesting. I said to Steve, let's stop and photograph this cute little guy. I figured we had all of a minute before he would decide to fly away. But instead it was just the opposite. He stuck around, going from flower to flower but staying within about a three foot square area. There he would sit on the flower. Turn around. Slowly move his wings up and down. Face us, turn away from us, move his wings again. I swear he looked just like a little model showing off. 
I have never seen a butterfly behave this way. It was an amazing experience. We were there with this little guy for about fifteen minutes. I'm not exaggerating one bit. We had time to take out all of our gear. Line up the shots, take our time to focus and compose. It was wonderful!
Because of the rain showers we had beautiful soft light under a cloudy sky. The perfect lighting for such an opportunity. You couldn't ask for a better situation. We both completely forgot about the drizzly day and were thrilled that we were able to walk away with some of, what I think are amazingly beautiful and inspriation butterfly photographs and I hope you feel the same way, enjoy...
~Kimberly
