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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsThe Beautiful Flight Paths of Fireflies
For nearly a decade, amateur photographer Tsuneaki Hiramatsu spent his summer evenings in the forests outside Niimi, in Japans Okayama prefecture. He was intent on capturing the spectacle of firefly mating season, when the males and females vie for attention through blinking codes. As night fell, Hiramatsu began shooting a series of eight-second exposures. He then digitally merged the images, creating connect-the-dot photos of the fireflies golden flight paths. The images became a sensation on the Web and were included in a traveling museum exhibit called Creatures of Light: Natures Bioluminescence. But for Hiramatsu, recognition for his artistry is secondary to engendering appreciation for the natural world. Fireflies are little seen in areas developed by human beings, he says. When I feel the splendor and mystery of nature, I am glad to have everyone share that feeling.
Read and See more:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/beautiful-flight-paths-fireflies-180949432/#ixzz2rBbN7SCj
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(21,551 posts)Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)Kali
(55,008 posts)we don't really have them around here. rarely in very wet years we get the female ones on the ground, but I have never seen them fly here.
My first sight of them as an adult was in northern Chihuahua in the 90s. My friend and I were camping along a stream bed and I thought I saw someone walking with a dim flashlight on the far bank. They were wandering and moving so erratically I got kind of nervous. Then it dawned on me what I was actually seeing.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)you have been deprived of one childhood's greatest pleasures: chasing fireflies on a moonlit summer's eve ...
I feel all gooey like I should hug you or sumpin'
<---- for Kali's deprived childhood
nolabear
(41,961 posts)I MISS lightning bugs and cicadas and all that delicious nighttime Southern stuff. Seattle's nice but it doesn't have wonderful night things except for magnificent little tree frogs.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)I would love to see Seattle ... you guys should be buzzing over StuporBowl. I hear kick off is at 4:20 ...
nolabear
(41,961 posts)Local opinion weighs heavily in his favor.
dem in texas
(2,674 posts)This was back in the 40's before people sprayed pesticides everywhere and the night would be thick with lightning bugs. I was very young, 4 or 5 years old, and did what the older kids did. That was to pull the "light" off the bug and wear it. You would have a glowing ring on your finger, or stick them on your chest for a necklace. Ugh! I was a disgusting little kid.
I still see them in my yard, but not very many.
Kali
(55,008 posts)and I have these kinda-sorta "memories" of catching them and having them in a jar, but I was like 4 so who knows where the memory came from, could have even been a movie.
They were there, there are family stories but whether what I am remembering is real or not...
other than that, yeah my real solid childhood, summer evening memories are scorpions on the ceiling
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)we could make a fortune, Kali
Kali
(55,008 posts)Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)we can retire and ride horses forever
Kali
(55,008 posts)sounds like a plan!
that reminds me, I may be acquiring yet another aged hand me down pony
I am such a glutton/sucker for hard cases. sigh
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)warrior1
(12,325 posts)Beautiful thank you for sharing
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)Prisoner_Number_Six
(15,676 posts)that I wrote.
Enjoy!
---------
LIGHTNING BUGS
Warm springtime dusk-- Just right
for barefoot-running through
the back-yard grass so cool
and tickley; fresh and nice--
The flashes happen suddenly,
hidden at the corner of an
unsuspecting eye--
Now stop! Stand still;
don't breathe or blink,
for they may see and fly,
unseen, away!
Now over there! Up in the trees!
As night sneaks up to cool the breeze;
a Flash! and Flash!
Before you know you're darting
here and there across
the night-dark grassy lawn,
hands snatching at
a million zillion flecks
of winking yellow light--
You reach, and catch!
Your Mason jar is full
of blinking midnight
magic-lantern fire!
So, giggling, off to bed--
You keep your jar safe by your head--
You drowse to sleep, and smiling, dream
of whirring through the night on wings of
sprinkly, starry, winking, twinkly light.
© 2014 Steven A. Hessler
All Rights Reserved
snappyturtle
(14,656 posts)toby jo
(1,269 posts)catbyte
(34,383 posts)And man, I miss them! Winter Storm Watch for tomorrow night & Saturday. No fireflies in sight...