Monday was the first day of the rest of my life. Yes – really. Or at least another new chapter. Unlike most Mondays for the past year, when I’ve roared down the highway and headed into a day job, this Monday brought not obligations, save the prime directive to seek out and explore new images. Yes – the day job has wound down – I always has a little time built into the schedule for photography – but now the days are wide open, to be used as best as I can…

So I spent the day searching out new areas for different photo projects, and then late in the afternoon wound up at the old farmstead in the Allegan Forest . The weather has been wet for a while now, and I was delighted to see a resurgence of dragonflies in the fields. They were almost exclusively Ruby Meadowhawks, but a few White Faced Meadowhawks made the scene, and green darners lumbered in the air above.

Overall, it was a very productive day – 18 dragonfly photos made the cut (and the standard keeps getting higher) and one shot of a huge robberfly was also interesting. That was on top of the 4 rolls of 120 film shot in the 6x7. (Another goal for this sojurn is to re-learn how to see in black and white, and get back into film development.)

Most of the ruby meadowhawks were shot by the seasonal marsh I’ve mentioned before. On this day I ventured back into the marsh, walking on a mat of dried vegetation that held me up over the muck below. Whenever I dropped to my knees to get a shot of one of the ruby meadowhawks, I came up with knees soaking wet with clear water.

I wanted to see the heart of the marsh. I visited it last summer, when things were actually much drier. It’s a small, deep, mucky reserve – the only place where cattails and Lilly pads grow, though last summer those were all dried up and dormant by the end of July.

Back in the heart of the marsh there was a small pool of water. It was really just muck, but in places an inch or two of water floated up above the muck. The ground was pitted with deer hoof prints. There are many small sources of water (in addition to the big sources of water) in the Allegan Forest. I suppose this small area within the marsh is a resource for deer who don’t want to trek to one of the larger water sources.

I was tempted to trek through the shoulder high grasses in the marsh – but instead decided to retrace my steps. Along the way I saw mating red faced meadowhawks (photographed, not presented.) I also saw a couple of female blue elfins, but no males.qq The male ruby meadowhawks must be feeling pretty frustrated. Back up by the parking area I spotted one or two female ruby meadowhawks, but only a couple compared to dozens and dozens of males. Well, maybe the ladies were retiring and had withdrawn to some secluded place…

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