It took me quite a few tries and several trips to the river before I finally managed to capture one of these gorgeous butterflies with my camera. It seemed like the Western Tiger Swallowtails were happily taunting me, always turning up after I had put my camera away, hovering around just out of reach as I fumbled to get my lens cap off, and then floating serenely out of sight. I was getting pretty frustrated!

On this particular day I’d given up on it yet again and decided instead to shoot some honey bees gathered around a tall buttonbush shrub. As I gazed upward, trying to choose the perfect subject, I noticed a flash of yellow just above my head — the Tiger Swallowtail! It was perched so close to me that I couldn’t use my 75-300 lens and instead had to pull out my trusty Fujifilm point-and-shoot. I guess sometimes you just have to stop chasing the object of your desire and let it come to you.