For nearly 30 years I’ve listened to and watched others react to "butterfly on the finger" photographs, dismissing them with a wave of the hand, a smirk of the lips or a turning of the head. True, many photographers have been lucky enough to take this picture, but countless others have not even had the opportunity to try. This picture came about 20 years ago after my young son had kept a chrysalis (cocoon) in a jar on the kitchen counter. One day a tiny hole appeared in the chrysalis and kept getting bigger.

This butterfly was entering the world. I grabbed my camera, he grabbed the jar and we ran down to the corner of our property where there was milkweed growing. Within minutes this beautiful creature was fully born and very willingly walked onto my son’s finger when he reached into the jar. The butterfly spent a few minutes opening and closing its wings, not to fly but to dry them in the sun. I took several pictures, but this is the only one that turned out okay. Soon the butterfly fluttered away, landing on a milkweed plant. We walked away, leaving it to its journey.