Dragonfly

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog


I had already written the previous chapter on waves that I had started the day before. It was early in the morning and time to rise and shine. I started thinking about my next chapter and how I was going to make a second attempt at capturing birds in flight. Then I thought it might just end with photos with mostly clouds in them. But I thought to myself that clouds make great photos also especially if you like minimalism and abstract. This led to the discovery of a whole niche called cloudscapes and me making a bunch of notes for what would have been the next chapter called clouds. The sun was out and I was out trying my hand at cloud photography. There were not many clouds in the open sky from where I stood in my yard. I decided to walk around the yard to get different viewpoints. The clearest view I have is to the east and to the north is the northern range. My view interrupted by houses and trees.

While walking through the back of the house a dragonfly landed on the fence. The pink wall you see is the neighbor’s house. The lighting was perfect. The subject was cooperating and I could get up close. The background was not distracting and was minimalist. I could see the details in the dragonfly and I liked the sharpness I was getting. I liked the composition the most. To me, this was as good as it gets. This was the perfect photo to me. And there was a story to tell. An unexpected turn of events. I was in the right place at the right time. I was lucky. I read that the dragonfly is a symbol of good luck and fortune in several cultures. We call them battimamzelle in Trinidad. A word that probably comes from our French creole history and the patois language.

The photo is sooc but I wish I had more time to go into manual mode and experiment. Nonetheless this is the type of photo that I love. An extension of my love for nature and life. Sometimes we get lucky and sometimes we create our own luck. Whatever the case we all benefit from luck. I for one welcome good luck. You do not have to believe in luck to appreciate these moments in life. Maybe you call it something else. Maybe you are like me and think that everything is written and happens for a reason. I still think there is a place in that thinking for luck. The luck was written and the reasons we can only postulate on. I think the dragonfly came to say that today is going to be a good day or maybe it is just a curious dragonfly. I am motivated to continue writing and to continue photographing. I will continue learning and being curious and when luck shows up I will be grateful.

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