Regal Fritillary butterflies are pretty rare in my neck of the tallgrass prairie. A few have been spotted over the years but their locations have been kept secret to protect them and their habitat.
Regal fritillaries have the sad distinction of being a rare butterfly in a rare habitat. Only one tenth of one percent of the native tallgrass prairies exist in Iowa and regal fritillaries need quality prairie habitat to live and breed.
I have yet to see one let alone film one but I’m determined to keep looking.
Determination is what keeps you moving forward when the odds may not be in your favor.
If you are determined to make something happen, you greatly increase the odds of it happening.
I could be discouraged about not even seeing a regal fritillary and say if I see one, I’ll see one. I’m determined to find one and film it though. I’ve been researching areas where small pockets of the butterfly have been found. While the exact locations are secret, I think it’s not too difficult to figure out where prime prairie habitat occurs in the counties the butterfly has been spotted. I’ll be making the drive to these spots in hopes of finding a regal fritillary in front of my camera.
Determination is what accomplishes goals. There are goals that I made years ago that haven’t even come close to being made but with determination, I’ll keep working until I can check them off my filmmaking to do list.
There’s two words that I discovered that can make a lot of difference in your filmmaking and that is “I will”. I wrote an article on it not too long ago on how I will, helped me rescue a kitten in Australia as well as making a difference in my nature and wildlife cinematography. You can read it here.
When things aren’t happening the way you think they should, put on your determined hat and keep at it until they do!
And as always, shoot the ordinary and make it extraordinary!
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