Long are their flights and short are their lives! Butterflies.
The Butterflies and Blooms Exhibit at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park has returned. You can get close enough to the butterflies to look directly in their eyes. There are more than 20 species of Northern American Butterflies flitting around this gallery.
The wide variety of brightly colored daisies, sunflowers, zinnias make wonderful backgrounds as the many butterflies and moths dart from one flower to another. Most easily recognized in the group is the monarch.
Be prepared for humidity and heat. Your DSLR lens will probably fog for the first five minutes as it adjusts to the climate. But a micro fiber cloth will help you defog your lens.
The Conservatory of Flowers is open 10 AM – 4:30 PM Tuesday – Sunday. I found that entering at 3:30 was a good time. The school groups come in the morning and it seems that the butterflies themselves are a little lethargic by afternoon.
Although I was using my Canon 7D, macro lens and ring-light-flash, I noticed my competition used iPhones and seemed to get fantastic results. However you capture or view the beauty, colors, and shapes of butterflies may they be your guide into this week’s spiritual journey.