Yellow Over Purple
by Randy Jackson
Title
Yellow Over Purple
Artist
Randy Jackson
Medium
Photograph
Description
This photograph was taken at the Butterfly Wonderland—A Rainforest Experience in Scottsdale, Arizona. Their conservatory, a 10,000 square foot self-described “America’s Largest Butterfly Atrium”. The conservatory housed thousands of butterflies flitting about freely in a humid rain forest-like vista of wonderment. Butterfly Wonderland is within the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, where reverence for the natural world is so integral to their culture.
The conservatory houses the live butterfly exhibit and volunteers guide you inside through air lock doors that prevent the butterflies from escaping. The butterflies are amazing with every color in the rainbow gracing their bodies. Strolling through with light small steps to avoid stepping on anything alive you can view multi-colored tropical plants for the critters to feed on.
I captured most of these shots with 70-200mm lens to allow me to get up close to frame the beauty. I was struck by the humidity in the room and it sapped my strength after only a couple of hours. The room is quite large with misting throughout and small ponds and streams through the lush foliage. I could stand in one place and turn 360° around to get 30-40 shots from any one position.
One of the secrets of butterfly photography is look for back lit shots to capture the delicate and transparent wing structure. You also have to pay attention to flaws in the wings where the creatures have been attacked by other butterflies in the area.
Too often we fail to recognize the beauty in the parks and attractions near to us. The Butterfly Wonderland has provided the source of many of my fine art images in recent years. The Phoenix Botanical Gardens is another source for great butterfly exhibitions at certain times of the year.
Uploaded
June 30th, 2014
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