Finding purpose in the process

Two damselflies prepare to duel over the same flower. After long hours of watching, photographer Remus Tiplea can pinpoint the moment when a battle is imminent.

“First they were looking at him - and then he started looking back. Photographer Remus Tiplea noticed the damselfies perched on foliage in his garden in Negrești-Oaș, Romania. Staring with bulging eyes, the delicate insects looked inquisitive, Tiplea thought, and a little imposing. Long afternoons photographing damselflies became his summertime ritual.”

Daniel Stone for National Geographic. January 2020.

Some go looking for purpose expecting to find it ready made. Others simply begin and find it in the process.

Three damselfies - Remus Tiplea - National Geographic

Who would have thought of spending years photographing damselflies? (until, that is, you find them staring back at you through a camera lens).

This is the question I asked myself as I gazed into the bulging eyes of brilliantly inquisitive damselfies in National Geographic today.

Remus Tiplea spent three seasons just to find the ideal camera settings to capture the life of the damselfly in his back garden. Which made me think: there is purpose in whatever you choose to devote your time, your energy and your mind to. The point simply is that you devote yourself to it.

In doing so you create that sense of purpose. But the purpose does not exist before you start, and - possibly most crucially - before you truly persevere.

It took photographer Remus Tiplea three seasons just to find the right camera settings to capture the tiny damselflies. (Source: Remus Tiplea, National Geographic)