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Yesterday was a fabulous weather day in central, NJ.  Today was also great up until about 3 p.m. Both days I spent a few hours photographing butterflies.  Here are a few favorites from today.

It’s that time of year when I’m out at least every weekend in search for butterflies and other interesting things to photograph. The weather has been very hot, so I only stay out for an hour or two before I stop.  I took this photo in a field of cone flowers in central New Jersey.  In the coming days/weeks I’ll be posting more.

Soon I’ll be offering for sale my Nikon D80 body.  Watch for it, if you’re interested.

I spent a couple hours for the past three afternoon taking butterfly picture. While  have many that are very pretty, this one was pure good timing!

I took this photo at Colonia Park in Franklin Park, NJ on September 1st. I just happened to focus and hit the shutter just as the butterfly took off.  This is one of my favorites from the season, and I plan on posting more.  I’m also thinking about putting together a 2013 calendar of butterfly pictures.  If I can find something reasonable, I may try to offer it through my website.  We’ll see.

There is something about photographing butterflies that I find incredibly soothing. At times it’s a waiting game, or disappointing when none are around, but year after year I find myself looking forward to it.  I was so glad when I spotted this guy yesterday. He’s a colorful beauty.

Finally, the butterflies are flying! I took these pictures this past Friday.

The first butterfly and the first flower I photographed in NJ this season. Hopefully it’s the start of many more to come.

My self-imposed goal of painting Budz on a regular basis was completed.  It’s primarily watercolor paints.

About two weeks ago, I visited Rutgers Gardens in New Jersey in search of butterflies to photograph.   I was pleasantly surprised to find monarch butterflies still around.  I went one day and returned the following, while the weather was still lovely.  In the process of  taking the photographs — wading through various weeds and who knows what — I was bitten by some bugs and probably also went into something that gave caused my skin to get an allergic reaction. I’ve been to a dermatologist twice since then, and the skin on my arms, legs, and back are still broken out in a itchy mess of a rash despite the topical medications and anti-histamines.  I’ve had poison ivy in the past, and each time after starting medication I started to clear up.  This, however, is not budging.  Ugh!

On a good note, I like some of the photos.  Were they worth this annoying, itchy rash?  Right now, the jury is still out on that one. I am partial to the desaturated versions of some of the photos.  While I certainly like vivid color, I find myself more attracted to the dreamy quality I see when the color is pushed back.

This is my favorite.

Generally by this time in the year,  I have at least a couple hundred butterfly photos.  But, not this year.  I was shocked to see that one of my favorite places to find butterflies is now dug up for a warehouse being built on the property.  It bought to mind “paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”  My second favorite place didn’t have many butterflies this year.  It is disappointing, but at least one day I managed to get a few pictures.  I fear with Hurricane Irene coming this weekend, there may not be any butterflies left to photograph next week. We’ll see!

I was only able to get a few pictures this evening.  The two I saw flew to an area that I couldn’t climb to.  I was tired anyway and so was happy that this handful was in focus.  I find the black swallowtails particular difficult to photograph as their wings tend to flutter very quickly.

Soon I’m going to be posting some books that will be given away.  Watch for it.