Portraits

The very large majority of photographs included on the site were taken with a Nikon digital camera with 105mm macro lens. However before 2010 I used a 35mm film camera and with it took many attractive and/or informative photographs. Scanning them unfortunately results in lower quality photographs. But many 'deserve' to be included and for a few species I have not yet replaced them with better quality digital ones. So these scanned slides are to be found included in several species sections with a note they are from 35mm stock.

As stated in the introduction a selection of the most pleasing photographs are included in the 'Best of Portraits' sections. In the individual species sections special mention should be made of photographs of Purple Emperors drinking from thistles (an event the text books suggest ‘never’ happens) and over 70 photos of Apollos – it is difficult to resist photographing such an iconic species when at rest with its wings open. Also there are extensive species sections of Large Coppers and False Ringlets, (colonies of both species occur in a marsh lest than 10km from where I live near Grenoble) and of Adonis and Provence Chalk-hill Blues and Berger's Clouded Yellows, all of which are very common nearby.

Finally I am not a butterfly expert and so my identification of some species, for instance the graylings, ringlets and skippers are best guesses rather than definitive. Advice welcomed. But spending a lot of time with butterflies does increase awareness of specific behaviour e.g. when mating the female of the Marbled White is always on top. There may be a good biological reason for this rather than an emotional one, but I am not aware of it.

Any of the photographs on this website can be reproduced for non-commercial purposes at no cost as long as text showing the copyright of the photographer accompanies the reproduction. Modest fees would be charged for any form of commercial use, after written permission was obtained from the author.

 

 

Sales

I still have some copies of the Papillons de Montagnes et de Collines book. It is in French but I can email a complete English translation of the text, which runs to 35 closely typed A4 pages, if required. All UK species are illustrated in the book. The text is a non-technical introduction to the ‘lifestyle’ of butterflies and has received many compliments, rivalling those received for its photographs. The original price of the book was 48 euros but I can now sell it for £16 or 18 euros, plus postage.

The coffee-table (or beaux-livres) style book is in large format  24x32cm, 204 pages, 450 photos.

For sales see the contact section.