Fireflies of Elkmont

While on vacation in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park in June we happen to be there for the one week of the year necessary to see a extremely rare work of nature. The once a year occurrence is the viewing of the synchronous fireflies of Elkmont. For one week or so per year, usually the first and/or second week of June, the fireflies are visible during the brief period of of their shot life span when the males flash to attract females.

I did not run this photo with my other Tennessee vacation pictures because it is not an actual photo, but is instead a collage of images of the night. The creek and the fireflies pictured are all at Elkmont on the night we were but I layered individual firefly shots over a twilight shot of the creek to recreate the actual scene as we saw remembered it between 9:30 and 10:30 the night we were there.

I knew from quite a bit of Internet research in advance that the fireflies were EXTREMELY difficult to shoot. While very bright to the human eye they are not very bright to a cameras sensor!

More on this event @ http://www.appvoices.org/index.php?/site/voice_stories/the_synchronous_fireflies_of_elkmont/issue/528

Nico Nico's

I took this shot at Nico Nico's [www.nikonikos.com/] restaurant on Montrose in Houston this past Sunday.

Traveling Man

This shot is of a vignette inside an antique railroad car at the Rosenberg Railroad Museum taken at the "Second Annual Rosenberg Railroad Festival & Hobo Days" event early in May of this year.

Baytown Nature Center Floral

This shot was taken at the Baytown Nature Center about six weeks ago. To me it's one of those shots that have several identifiable flaws that I like anyway.

BNC Ducks

These ducks were swimming around a small pond at the Baytown Nature Center a month or so ago.

Battleship Texas OTB

An over-the-bow shot of the Battleship Texas. This, like yesterdays post, is also a 3 shot handheld HDR produced with Photomatix Pro and finished with Topaz Adjust in CS3.

Battleship Texas

I've processed this image in the spirit of some of the over-the-top machinery images that I've seen posted on Topaz Lab's Facebook page @ http://www.facebook.com/topazlabs. Many of the images I like however are processed using Topaz Clean which I do not currently own. I do think this one gets close to replicating the look.

Wrecked Piano

This image is of a wrecked and abandoned piano left exposed to the elements at the old outdoor theater in Galveston.

Lost Oaks Project Galveston

Miscellaneous shots of the carved figures of the Lost Oaks Project in Galveston. All are single [except the Tin Man with three] frame pseudo HDR conversions using Photomatix Pro.

Time Marches On

"Gardeners , like everyone else, live second by second and minute by minute. What we see at one particular moment is then and there before us. But there is a second way of seeing. Seeing with the eye of memory, not the eye of our anatomy, calls up days and seasons past and years gone by." - Allen Lacy, The Gardener's Eye, 1992, p. 16

The Blues Brothers

We spotted Jake and Elwood Blues on a recent photo trip to Galveston, TX. Although in this case I think maybe Elwood should be called "Lefty."

Old Twin Stack Factory at Galveston

This photo is of an old abandoned factory currently owned by Galveston County located just to the left of I45 as you come on to the island. It's a great old block building with a lot of character - wish it wasn't posted!

Galveston Island Outdoor Musicals

This interior shot, taken this past Saturday, is of one of the pavilions at the old abandoned outdoor theatre at the Galveston Island State Park. The facility stands in ruin about 8 miles south of the Galveston seawall near Jamaica Beach.

Lyons Ave Theatre

This shot is of an old boarded up theatre on Lyons Ave just east of downtown Houston. I used CS3's "Poster Edges" to try and play up the humorous aspects of the shot.

Monarch Butterfly_2

This Monarch butterfly shot was taken at the Baytown Nature Center a couple of weeks ago.

Trinity River Bridge

This shot is of the old iron bridge crossing the Trinity River on Hwy 146 at Liberty, TX.

Black Bear in GSMNP

One more shot of a Black Bear at Cade's Cove in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in Tennessee.

Bicentennial Park Baytown

In honor of the fast approaching holiday, this shot if of the veterans memorial at Bicentennial Park off Market St. in Baytown, TX.

Varner Hogg Plantation and Historic Site_2

A mossy oak covered dirt road at the Varner Hogg Plantation and Historic Site.