Enchanted Forests – Part 2

On to part 2, all about this beetle above.  After that first night, I began to really hit my stride, but the rain did also.  For the next three days it rained on and off, and some of it was fairly severe.   On the second night, I pulled into the location early so I could scout out the area while I had daylight.  It stopped raining long enough to go on a quick hike into the forest, but it had already felt like night had fallen while on the trail.

Just before dusk there was a light rain, but it stopped in time for the fireflies to take off.  I had a clear shot of the sky, so I was able to include it along with the barren tree in the field of tall and lush grass.  Since I was close to the previous night’s location where the synchronous fireflies were, I decided to take a ride back to make an image that caught my eye there.

Under the elder tree, the fireflies danced, not caring about a light rain.  I was able to just sit under that tree and take it all in.

The photo above was the only one I was able to make on the third night.  As I strapped my camera backpack on and walked into the park, I just about made it out of the parking lot when the skies opened up.  Fortunately, I had checked the radar before I went out since I knew I was not going to have cell service.  The storms were moving swiftly, and popping up randomly.  I made a mad dash to the car and sat until the rain was falling at a more manageable rate.  This time I had my rain gear on both myself and the camera.  I scouted out the area, found the above spot and set up the tripod.   I had 15 minutes before a heavy downpour stopped the fireflies, and I had to pack up my gear.  I was able to scout around this spot before I left, and decided to return for one more night.  I felt somewhat defeated by the weather, but I made the resolution to not give in.

One more day it was, with plenty of driving through the mountains.  And of course, there was rain.  This day, while out scouting for a waterfall off of an old forestry road ( not the road above! ), there was a tornado reported close to where I was.  That was a wild and muddy road ride.  Night came, and I was ready for whatever nature threw at me.

So back I went to the previous nights location.  I may have been thoroughly soaked that night, but it served as a great walk about for scouting the area for potential photos.  Three types of fireflies are seen here, noted by the different bio-luminescent light given off.  The darker, orange colony seem to be mostly tree dwellers, not taking flight out in the open.  If I hadn’t taken these photos, I wouldn’t have realized that there were different colored bugs all around me in this spot. 

Here is the final photo of the trip!  Along the river bank I had plenty of creatures keeping me company, most of which were very loud frogs.  You can see there were still many clouds cruising by, but even the moon made it’s brief appearance.  When all was said and done, I felt very content with the images I had captured.   Even more important was the experience of being outside with nature, trying to bring back some unique images to share.  I plan on making this a tradition every year, and plan on improving the quality of photos I  come back with.

And with that, I thank you for taking the time to read and view my work.  I spent dozens of hours, planning out ahead, driving around and then processing these.   I do enjoy the end result since I feel it pays off.  Let me know what you think!