In the warm, humid butterfly greenhouse at Utrecht Botanical Gardens, I came face to face with something I had almost overlooked at first: a tiny butterfly with wings that... didn't actually seem to be hiding anything. Transparent, almost invisible. The Greta Oto, or glass-winged butterfly. I honestly thought at first: how boring, it doesn't even have colour.
But when I looked more closely - and the light fell just right - something magical happened. In the delicate, almost cracked structure of her wings, the sunlight broke into an array of soft rainbow colours. As if each minute crack became a prism. The transparency turned into something alive, something enchanting.
I decided to capture that moment as I felt it: vulnerable and powerful at the same time. The dark background emphasised the fragile nature of the butterfly and let those subtle colours speak even more intensely. What seemed dull at first suddenly became a play of light, fragility and wonder - a silent reminder of how beauty often only shows itself when you really look.
This photo reminds me that what seems inconspicuous is often the most special.
An ode to light, detail and the gentle power of nature.
Adje is a photographer with a penchant for flowers of all shapes and sizes. Although the dahlia is her favourite. She tries to capture the essence of a flower with her camera. Sometimes in a picturesque way. Other times the flower pops off the picture... Read more…