So after only 9 days the Monarch Butterflies have emerged from their chrysalises. I missed the one that “hatched” yesterday, but saw him flying around on my lunch break. Could not get him to stay still for a photo. Today at lunch a second one was fresh out of his chrysalis which I could tell since they cannot fly well with their wings still wet. I was able to get some not so great images of him at the time, but got much better ones which I have posted below when I got home from work this afternoon. He even climbed onto my finger for a couple shots. Shooting butterflies is not easy and takes patience, but watching them go from caterpillars to flying around in just over a week was really cool. Need to buy some more milkweed plants to plant around the pool to increase our population.
     I hope you all have enjoyed the photos I have been posting on Facebook and Instagram (some are on my website as well) from the awesome Hops and Horns event that Matt and Nick Nemec of Edgewater Events put on last weekend. It was a top notch event as expected, and made me even more excited for Funk Fest which is March 2nd and 3rd. Get your tickets now! They have a great lineup and its an amazing concert. Looking forward to photographing that, especially Here Come the Mummies. This is the 9th year of Funk Fest and I have been to the last 5, but this is the first I will be shooting.
     This coming week I have a few shoots I am looking forward too. On Saturday I am headed up to St. Pete to celebrate a friends birthday, and will be brining my camera for some shots around the city as well as a few portraits. On Monday I am shooting some portraits in Sarasota.  I have some great ideas in mind for this particular model so I’m excited to see how they turn out. I will be sure to add some of those to my site and social media. On Tuesday I am shooting a house for realtor near Port Charlotte Beach. I will be shooting at sunset to get some dramatic shots to help show prospective homeowners the beauty of that area on the water. Then next Friday we leave for a long weekend in Key West. More on that in my next blog post, but my goal is to do a lot of shooting while there.