The Dragonfly Effect

Some shots start off from a simple luck - something around you strikes your attention and if you just bend over, you discover a whole world full of wonder and out of reach, yet, incredible simple pure magic.

That happened to me when I discovered yet another clan which had temporarily settled down at the artificial lake at Parc Jarry. The Damzell dragonflies and the male 12 spotted skimmer which was the best luck ever that I had the delight to capture on photo !

Remember, all these shots were taken with a Canon Powershot SX 10 IS at 10 mega pixels.










This shot is the cherry on my sundae - my prize for that full hour standing in very uncomfortable positions near the spot where they mated and rested, my compensation for the cramps in the legs, the backache from bending over but not making noise ... The slightest movement, the slightest noise of the camera or from myself and they flew away to sometimes go rest on a completely different spot before taking a carefully calculated time to go back to the original spot where I was settled myself to take the photos ! I didn't dare to go into the water, not to disturb them, nor to trespass any possible regulation I didn't knew of ...

First Encounter with the Duck Kind

Summer of 2009

I had finished my college, Medical Archives DEC (college diploma) at O'Sullivan of Montreal in May, graduated in June, and in July, I was still without a job. I was in great need of vacations too. I felt miserable, having finished a 3 year program in a private college and getting out feeling ripped of my time, my money and my energy.

I most often spent time in a park near my home, the Jarry Parc, where I found comfort socializing with the locals - the Duck Family.

I go to that park since I'm a kid, since my family and I moved to this street, to this island, to this city. But I can remember that the park never had this many ducks. 10 years ago, we were thrilled to have about 5-6 for a few days ! Today we have a couple of females, many youngsters, and a good amount of males. I don't know if it's one huge tribe, or many little clans or families, but the number has increased, to the delight of the park users, visitors, who have their little corner of heaven, of peace and of well being, family gathering, moment of serenity there - with the "locals" of the feathery kind.

The beauty of a simple sunset

Living in town means that I don't get to have many wonderful natural landscapes as I would if I were living in the country, in a small village or such clean air and less populated locations, but if one only peeks out the window, wonderful amazement is to be found just in front of your eyes ;)

These photos were shot on the 15th of January 2008 with a Kodak Z740 digital camera from my apartment's window. (full details are included in the image description on flickr)

The subject was obviously the setting sun.


Needless to say, that bleak ghastly mood did capture my eye.




The "pièce de résistance" and also, the pic which shows that how the zooming, the framing of a landscape can so dramatically change a mood, a composition and a final result.