FLUTTER!, A Feast for the Senses and a Photographer's Dream

With the yearly opening of our summer exhibits, I always look forward to writing a blog about one of the great photo opportunities at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo -- our butterfly exhibit, FLUTTER! Inside the Zoo's Public Greenhouse (across from Waterfowl Lake), FLUTTER! is once again a photographer's paradise and a feast for the senses, with its beautiful free-flying butterflies, soothing tunes and rare aromatic plants.
FLUTTER! has at least three great photo opportunities. The first is the butterflies themselves. Whether you're new at photography or honing your skills, you can take some great close-up shots of intricate patterns and bright colors of these winged wonders. Try taking action shots of butterflies in flight or still shots while they perch on a leaf or flower. And speaking of flowers, the second photo opportunity is the plants. FLUTTER! displays some amazing shapes and colors in tropical flowers and foliage. The third photo opportunity may be the best one: capturing images of people, especially children, with butterflies. Watching children react to butterflies is one of the sheer joys of FLUTTER! And if they're lucky, one of the delicate creatures may even alight on them. Throughout the years, we've seen stunning photos of children with butterflies in our annual Photo Safari contest.

But don't get me wrong, FLUTTER! isn't only for photographers. It's filled with incredible sights and sounds and scents that you can experience again and again, and it's never the same. Chrysalises are flown in weekly, and visitors will be able to learn about the metamorphosis process, as butterfly chrysalises and newly-hatched butterflies are displayed.

Here's a gallery of photos taken in the past week at FLUTTER!
(photos by yours truly and Ryan Eedy)
Thumbnail: 2010-05-26_butterflies-two-on-branch.jpgThumbnail: 2010-05-26_butterflies-two-palm-leaf.jpgThumbnail: 2010-05-26_butterfly-black-on-white-leaf.jpgThumbnail: 2010-05-26_butterfly-blue-morpho.jpgThumbnail: 2010-05-26_butterfly-green-on-green-leaves.jpgThumbnail: 2010-05-26_butterfly-on-hand.jpgThumbnail: 2010-05-26_butterfly-orange-orange-flower.jpgThumbnail: 2010-05-26_butterfly-orange-translucent.jpgThumbnail: 2010-05-26_butterfly-red-black-white.jpgThumbnail: 2010-05-26_butterfly-stripes-on-plant-pot.jpgThumbnail: 2010-05-26_plant-abstract.jpg


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