As summer wraps up I'm again finding myself getting ready for photo competitions again.  Having time away for competing in competitions give me the time to just get out at shoot just for the fun of it (it's all fun, but during the nine months where I compete does cause me to have to focus on specific fields of photography.  During the summer months I can just hang out and take pictures of whatever floats by me.  Here is a Swallowtail butterfly from my garden.  It was very cooperative and stayed around for over ten minutes resting on my six foot tall Zinnias...

It won't be long before these butterflies will be heading south for the winter.