Time
it butterflies: This cutie landed on my hand near a river and graciously waited for me to get the perfect shot. 🦋 xoxo⌚
In the summer of 2015, I sat at one of my usual spots. A tiny cove branched off, connecting to a large river. Every few weeks, my friends (fellow Marines) would strip and jump off a small dock nearby for a swim. I never got into the water because I prefer the beach. There were signs everywhere: warnings about alligators in the water. The Marines I lived with craved adventure. So, in some ways, I understood their motivations. Surviving the unknown was what made many of them feel alive. When I photographed this butterfly that summer, for a moment, all the adventure and wonder in the universe was sitting on my wrist.
This cutie gave me enough time to bring my hand to eye level, grab my phone (with my weaker hand), and immortalize its existence in the digital age on Instagram. It’s one of my most-liked Instagram photos, with 69 likes. If there’s one thing I know for certain, it’s that 69 likes on Instagram in this economy is a big deal! The first-generation Moto 360 was my first smartwatch! When I took this photo, I felt contentment even though my career was on pause after a cold-weather injury.
I bought this watch for two reasons:
To track my steps while recovering from a lower-body injury. Somewhere around 10,000 steps is usually where I’d encounter increased pain.
To skirt the Marine Corps rules that prohibited texting while in formation since smartwatch rules didn’t exist yet. The Moto 360 looked like a normal watch, so every time I touched it or responded to a message, it looked like I was synchronizing my watch for our unit's next check-in or readjusting the settings on my fancy watch.
Choose any of your photos between 2015 ~ 2023 (I have around 5,000 photos to choose from). Write 1-2 paragraphs about the photo; talk about the thoughts and emotions you had at the time of taking the photo. Then hit PUBLISH.
I didn’t choose my photo at random, like David did. I loved his photograph of the Babbage Difference Engine so much that I felt this was the perfect follow-up post for Portraits and Views.
I remember that red butterfly that landed near us as we stopped to walk along a back road high above the Sea on St Thomas, near the entrance-way stone posts with lion-head carvings.