Slogging outside with a couple of cameras when the temperature approaches 90 degrees is not always easy. The mosquitoes start to land, flies buzz around my ankles, and I have to remind myself that if I take things slow, it will be worth the sweat and the bites. The milkweed is blossoming so I set out to photograph butterflies who love them. What startled me were the other insects that my eye was drawn to -- a damselfly, a bumblebee dragging pollen on its feet, a pair of emerging caterpillars. It's not that I didn't take hundreds of butterfly photos. I did. But sometimes it's the unexpected that thrills.

Below, a bumblebee with pollen on its hind legs enjoying the vetch.

Damselfly on leaf