Things today's kids missed out on

[PhotonWrangler]

Fireflies! I used to catch them also. I thought it was the coolest thing that an insect could actually light up. Thankfully they're still around for future generations to appreciate.

An insect with it's own built-in EDC.

 

[EZO]

Where I live in rural Vermont, every season starting about now, the fireflies come out. Of course, there are no street lights out here. I look out off my deck onto acres of fields and forest and when the conditions are right there are hundreds and hundreds, maybe even thousands flashing simultaneously all around. It is truly magical. If I were a kid I'd be out there with a jar for sure.

 

[smarkum]

Hey EZO... How about getting out there with a long lens camera?
I know three little girls who would love to see....

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Yes, we need beamshots!

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

Actually PhotonWrangler, There's not much beam. More like a mule,, all flood.

+1 On pictures from EZO.

~ Chance

 

[EZO]

I have tried for years to capture the magic of the fireflies on my property but it seems impossible. While you can capture some streaks and flashes, I've never found a way to capture the grandeur and magnitude of what it's like to witness this in person. What you see looking down the hill off my deck is acres of fields and woods perhaps up to 1500 or more feet away just teeming with the flashes of hundreds or thousands of fireflies EVERYWHERE! For the most part, the ones off in the distance out in the field and up in those trees in the woods surrounding the fields don't really register on film at all so the results have always been disappointing. Come to think of it though, the last time I tried this was with a Mamiya RZ-67 medium format camera on film after trying many times with 35mm. I don't believe I've ever tried this with my digital Nikons and that could open up some new imaging and post processing opportunities. Interestingly, here in Vermont we've had an unusually cold, rainy and breezy month of June so far. There have been some lightning bugs out every night but not many. To experience the sort of spectacular display of fireflies I've described you need a warm humid night when the air is perfectly still. I'm sure that kind of weather is coming so I'll give it a try and report back if I get some results worth showing.

 

[StarHalo]

You'd have to shoot at some astronomically high ISO (20,000+) with the shutter speed no slower than ~40th/sec. The good news is that the quick shutter means you won't need a tripod, the bad news is the high ISO will give you a picture so grainy it'll look like 110 film.

And that's another thing today's kids missed out on; goofy little 110 cameras. Even cell phones have better image quality now..

 

[jtr1962]

Being a city kid, one of the magical things about visiting relatives in the suburbs was when the fireflies came out. Instantly their yards were transformed into something wondrous. And when we moved to a home in Queens I got to experience this firsthand all summer long. It actually never gets old. I just wish there was less ambient light here. If I'm in the back yard the fireflies really pop out. The front yard under the streetlight not so much.

 

[Starik1]

Horses and buggies.
Segregation.
Polio.

 

[EZO]

I just wish there was less ambient light here. If I'm in the back yard the fireflies really pop out. The front yard under the streetlight not so much.

Yes, that's one of the things about the fireflies in the setting I've described that makes it so spectacular; no street lights out here in the middle of nowhere. Looking out over many acres seeing fireflies off into the vast darkness hovering above the fields and covering all the trees like blinking Christmas lights makes one feels like you've entered into another world, especially when the air is dense, a little foggy, quiet and still.

 

[Monocrom]

Horses and buggies.
Segregation.
Polio.

The last was thankfully stopped because of a mistake that took place in a lab.

Other than the smell, a horse & buggy ride can be quite relaxing and enjoyable.

Segregation still takes place. Difference is that folks now do it voluntarily. For example, there's a certain school in NYC where there's a wall, a literal wall, that divides the lunchroom in half. Black students on one side, White on the other. And no one raises a stink over it because the students on both sides of that wall prefer it the way it is.

But not really a family-friendly appropriate subject to discuss. So that's all I'll say about it.

 

[gadget_lover]

We played in the creek when I was young. It seemed that no matter where we lived there was a stream somewhere nearby. Even silicon valley had streams 50 years ago. We'd swim or wade. We'd "go fishing" with a branch, piece of string and a safety pin. We'd skip stones. All without an ounce of supervision.

Do kids still do that?


Daniel

 

[Monocrom]

We played in the creek when I was young. It seemed that no matter where we lived there was a stream somewhere nearby. Even silicon valley had streams 50 years ago. We'd swim or wade. We'd "go fishing" with a branch, piece of string and a safety pin. We'd skip stones. All without an ounce of supervision.

Do kids still do that?


Daniel

No.

They get snatched up and kidnapped nowadays.

 

[degarb]

No.

They get snatched up and kidnapped nowadays.

Actually, there are just as many serial killers per 100k as there were in 1950. But as population increases, so would proximity of one to you become more likely.

Actually, most serial killers would also be flashaholics, and likely active with online flashlight communities. They would likely drink lots of coffee, frequent coffee shops, own guns, and be a big incandescent advocate. They would be eventually swayed to try leds, but would go for the big 100 watt led worklight trophy. Eventually, I think, after buying the Tk75, they would find the usefulness of the HP25 quite handy for their task--flood for finding things & cleaning up blood, a touch of throw to find new potential grave sites. On the whole, they would eventually become largely a flood fan (with blood tracking green), as age will make finding the saws more of a problem.

...I think I watched one too many episodes of "Criminal Minds". Sorry.

 

[Monocrom]

The only big creature I ever killed was a goose. Speaking of which, kids miss out on sitting down to Sunday dinner with the entire family to enjoy some fowl and each others' company. Now the foul thing you sometimes get to "enjoy" at dinner is the language used by kids. :shakehead

 

[StarHalo]

I enjoyed a foul baseball game on the radio with my dinner this evening; thankfully the Dodgers aren't my team, but they lost 1 to 16, five hits to the Phillies' 21. And that's something a lot of kids are missing, a baseball game on a hot summer evening..

 

[Monocrom]

I enjoyed a foul baseball game on the radio with my dinner this evening; thankfully the Dodgers aren't my team, but they lost 1 to 16, five hits to the Phillies' 21. And that's something a lot of kids are missing, a baseball game on a hot summer evening..

Watching or playing, or both?

 

[StarHalo]

Watching or playing, or both?

Playing is even better; watching the younger Little Leaguers play is at least as entertaining as an MLB game because you never know what will happen. You don't get infield grand slams in pro baseball..

 

[Monocrom]

Very true.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

The 4th of July always reminds me that today's kids miss out on fireworks ground displays. They used to make all sorts of neat things out of colored "lances" - huge pinwheels, trains with moving wheels, flags and other stuff. One of my favorites was "Niagra Falls," pictured in the linked images.

It's a lost art. I think they've shifted to aerial displays primarily because you can see them from farther away. You had to be fairly close to the ground displays and have an unobstructed view to see them.