Dragonfly

This dragonfly looks harmless enough, it is peacefully resting on a small branch on a day with a slight breeze. But what you do not know is how dangerous this dragonfly actually was on the day I took this shot. I was shooting in the early afternoon in one of my favorite places to find wildlife, Black Point Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. On this day I was just letting the truck slowly idle down the gravel road while I scanned the landscape for wildlife. Then out of the corner of my eye I see this rather large dragonfly alight on this small branch. I grab my camera with the 70-200mm lens ready to jump out of the truck and get the shot. Unfortunately in my excitement, I jumped out of the truck while it was still in gear. Realizing my mistake, I was able to get one foot back in the truck and hold on to the door while one foot was still on the road as I was getting dragged along at 3mph. I had two choices at this point, let the truck drive itself into the lagoon or save my camera and my nice new lens. (To be truthful my camera and lenses are worth more than my 15 year old truck.) This argument went on longer in my head than I anticipated. At the last moment I was able to toss my camera on to the seat,  grab the wheel and pull my self into the truck and apply the brakes. Crisis averted, I went back to the “dangerous dragonfly” and got the shot.