Explore #340, 3/18/08.

I shot a whole bunch of butterflies and orchids this morning, but this was my favorite shot of the day. (At least so far, as I've only seen about 1/2 of them.)

I think he was eyeing me because I accidently let one of the butterflies out of their exhibit into his.

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Explore #108, 3/17/08.

I attended a pilot program this morning at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, where they opened this season's butterfly exhibit an hour early, just for photographers. They limited the attendence to just 30 photographers and included a stop at their orchid exhibit. I chose to shoot with my 180mm macro lens, on a tripod, so I was limited to only still butterflies (not that I would be able to capture them without a tripod). This morning was truly a memorable experience!

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Shot during the opening of the butterfly exhibit and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The butterflies are flown in from South America and are timed to hatch throughout the three week span of the exhibit.

Don't you love the way the catchlights were designed into the "eyes"?

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The enclosure is climate-controlled to what felt like around 80° F (27° C) and 100% humidity. Jill, notice that there's only one "s" in the scientific name. ;-) I didn't make that up!

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Explore #461, 3/17/08.

I know what you're thinking, so stop it!

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