Well, it is officially (as declared by me) firefly season on the Mountain. While we were up there these past few days I was able to go out and photograph them some evenings. I had a blast and am fairly pleased with some of the results.

Day 1 – The front yard.

In some ways the front yard of the cottage is the ideal location – nice trees, easy access, and tons of fireflies. However it suffers because of the lights from the military museum next door. They cast a sickly glow over everything. I was still able to get some pictures before they came on though. I’m not crazy about my compositions, but I was a bit lazy and waited until the last minute before setting up.

Day 2 – Jackson Lake.

I set up three cameras here, and was a little lazy. Instead of manually controlling and adjusting the exposure I set it to automatic. Part of this is because the cameras were so spread out. The first camera was set on a little waterfall. Unfortunately there weren’t many fireflies there at all. The second camera was on the dirt road. More bus there, but not a ton. The third was overlooking the lake. It was also lacking fireflies. This was a disappointing evening because the compositions had more interesting elements, but the lightning bugs just didn’t cooperate. Maybe I will try this spot again.

Day 3 – Campus Forest.

On the back side of campus there are a few thousand acres of managed forest. There is one maintained road going through the heart of it and lots of trails. It is always a very relaxing place to be; I photographed the fireflies a number of times there last year. Once again I used three cameras. I got there a few minutes later than I would have liked, so focusing was a little bit of an issue, but I’m pretty pleased with how things turned out. One camera was set up on the road, and the other two were on trails. I’m thinking to remove the biggest firefly trails in all three pictures, as they are rather distracting.

Day 4 – Mountain Goat Trail

I had never thought to photograph on the trail before, but our evening walk inspired me. So I set up shop near Pearl’s at the en of the wooden bridge. I pointed one camera back at the bridge. It didn’t capture that many fireflies. The other two I pointed down the trail – one with a shorter focal length, the other a bit longer. I think this spot has potential for some better photos, so I will return.

I definitely can’t wait to get back to the mountain soon. I’m not sure when that will be though. The fireflies are such a fun challenge. There are some new locations I want to try as well.