When I first started doing photography I took loads of classes and tutorials and one of the things that just about every instructor told us was to plan our shots and plan our outings. I can completely understand that advice, but one of the things I’ve learned by doing is that although planning is great, luck is important, too. Back in October, I was out in the woods photographing some colorful purple wildflowers when a Palamedes swallowtail butterfly (Papilio palamedes) came flying in to feed. She only stayed a few seconds, and I totally would have missed the shot had I not already been focused on the flowers. I really didn’t even have time to think about what I was doing. I just started shooting in burst mode. She was fluttering her wings the whole time, so some of the shots didn’t turn out well at all, but some of them also turned out pretty well. They all look fairly similar since she was only there a few seconds, but I tried to choose some that showed some of her color.