Changing lenses leads to contest-winning photo

After an unsuccessful day's search for egrets with her newly purchased long lens, photographer Nancy Havener decided to switch things up.

"I went home and got my macro lens," the Naperville resident said.

She was shooting frames filled with flowers and bees in a forest preserve near Whalon Lake in Will County when a Halloween pennant dragonfly crossed her path.

"I was following this dragonfly around. I had the shot all ready. It finally landed and I had it focused," she said. "Then I heard rustling in the grass."

When she paused to watch a lone fisherman pass, she lost sight of her subject. But she was patient.

"I waited a little. The dragonfly came back and I was able to get that shot. It was one of those one-in-a-million," she said.

Her photo of the yellow-orange beauty, adorned with brown bands, led her to do a little research.

"It's Latin name is Celithemis eponina and it is native to Eastern North America," she said.

She liked the photo so well that she posted it in an online forum for breast cancer survivors like herself. The feedback she received was so positive that she entered it in the Daily Herald's Photo Finish contest.

As the August winner of the monthly Photo Finish contest, Havener will receive a $50 gift certificate for PJ's Camera in Glen Ellyn.

"I'm so excited to have my photograph validated by other people," she said.

Havener, 65, a retired Naperville Unit District 203 band director, said she began seriously pursuing her photography avocation about two years ago.

"I had breast cancer. I had to go to this cancer clinic in Lisle," she said.

The clinic is located near a Japanese garden, she said.

"When I was in my treatments, it's a place I would go and reflect," she said. "It was a place of solace, in a way."

As a novice photographer, it's where she photographed a family of swans, an image that also won her recognition through a Daily Herald photo contest.

At each visit, she saw two swans. Then, one day, both swans had disappeared. Moments later, she spotted them, along with their five cygnets. And she was ready with her camera.

"I'm a person of faith. I absolutely believe those swans were God's gift to me," she said. "I am a survivor. I am going to make it through this."

That success with photography spurred her on. With her cancer in remission, she participated in workshops, studied YouTube videos and read everything she could about photography.

"It was not just a passing fancy but a lasting passion," she said. "I'm just loving photography at this point."

The dragonfly shot was taken with a Nikon D7200 camera fitted with Nikon macro 105mm lens.

Havener said she found the insect's markings beautiful and unusual.

"I had never seen one like that before. They are fascinating when you see them up close," she said. "It was just being at the right place at the right time."

About our contest

If you'd like to submit a photo to our contest, email it in .jpg format with at least 300 dpi resolution to dupagecontest@dailyherald.com.

Be sure to include your name, address and a phone number, plus a description of where you took the photo, why you like it and what challenges you faced.

The winner will receive a $50 gift certificate from PJ's Camera, Pickwick Place Plaza, 662 Roosevelt Road, Glen Ellyn.