Now that the kittens are gone, I had to find some new friends...

I'm glad you found homes for the kittens. These are my favourite insects and they are beautiful photos. I've only ever seen one dragonfly close up before.

Erisian,
Thanks. I had to approach them VERY slowly, or they would fly away. If you creep toward them they seem to be fine with you placing the camera quite close; I was only a few inches from her face in the first photo. Interestingly, when I finished and walked away, she didn't seem to mind the sudden movement and simply sat in place.

Excellent. I don't know the difference between dragonflies, damselflies or anything else of that kind but they're all gorgeous.

Excellent photo's Charlie.
In Dutch they are called "glazenmaker" which translates to glazier.
Very appropriate name I think when you look at their wings.

When man discovered how to make glass they could only make small panes.
Hence the glazier had to use lead frames with lots of small panes to cover large windows.
Gerard.

Gerard,
Very interesting, and it harkens back to when people used to name things with names that were meaningful. Thanks also for your nice comments on our photos, we were very pleased with the way these turned out.

Ahh the times where what a person made had significance in some fashion and not now where everything is machined stamped...

fantastic macro shots!

2-ton,
Thanks! It's not easy to capture detail at such short distance and extremely narrow depth-of-field.

Erisian,
Here's a Damselfly, who was nice enough to let me photograph her up close. As you can see, their bodies are more slim and elongated than those of Dragonflies. And, when perched they keep their wings tucked backward, instead of out to the sides.

And here's a silly, little Grasshopper. She was very difficult to photograph.