A couple of months ago Vision Norfolk Viewfinders took a trip to The Bug Parc, which is not far from us if we take the Vision Norfolk minibus. Or The Blindie Bus, as I call it. As in “The Blindie Bus is coming, and everybody’s stumblin …” which I believe is a Venga Boys B Side. 😉
I still had the wonderful Biggie dog then, but I didn’t take him along because I knew it would be too hot for him in the tropical butterfly exhibit, which is what I was eager to experience. And I didn’t want him to accidentally lick an exhibit, which wouldn’t have ended well for anybody.
There were many wonderful butterflies there, and it’s sort of unnerving to see how big some of them are. They don’t flutter – they glide. It was hard to get shots of them on pretty backgrounds when they’re basically in a massive tent, mind you, so quite a bit of editing was employed fo this shot.
A single Malachite butterfly rests gently on a pale, mist-soft leaf. Its wings are painted in translucent shades of golden yellow and warm amber, edged with soft cocoa brown and traced with delicate latticework like stained glass. The rear wings are scalloped like a lace hem, with bands of faded lilac and cream fading into the shadows. Its body is poised upright, antennae curved forward like fine calligraphy.
The background is a gentle blur of pale sea-glass green and white, soft as fog and entirely without edges, wrapping the butterfly in silence and tranquility.
Soft of Sight Photography 