Butterflies at the garden

This fellow just waited in front of me. Never really minded being photographed.

It was one really hot summer day when we went to Glencoe Illinois for a very special event. It was the Butterflies and Blooms event at the Chicago Botanic Garden. We went around the garden till we saw the tent where the butterflies were and went in. 

When you're going to something like this, make sure you bring your macro lens to capture these creatures up close.

We went around for about an hour and a half. There were tons of butterflies to look at!

Members get a discount for the event. Were so lucky to be given memberships as christmas gifts from the in laws every year so we get to enjoy perks like discounts and free parking everytime we go to the garden. I recommend getting a membership to your local botanic garden so you can take photos of everything in the garden all year round for free.

This little one was busy sucking nectar from this flower.

When we got in, we were advised to watch where we step because the butterflies sometimes walk on the ground. It would be really sad if you accidentally step on one of these beautiful creatures. Also the butterflies have the tendency to land on you. If they do, you can just blow on them to shoo them away. Never ever touch them.

This one stayed in front of me for the longest time.

I used my Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM for these shots. I needed to get close to the butterflies so the 100mm macro was my lens of choice. Macro lenses come in pretty handy in situations like these. We basically enjoyed looking at the butterflies the rest of the day. 

This one was so friendly that it just stayed into my wife's lens while she was standing still.

Of course...I had to take a shot of this.

Before we exited the tent, there were people by the exits checking everybody if there were stragglers holding on to their clothing. It's just to prevent the butterflies from escaping from the tent.

The event ended on September 3rd. We plan on returning next year. It was a really fun experience seeing all the butterflies and taking shots of them.