So as some of y'all know almost a year ago I was illegally fired, for union activity, from a job I relied on to make ends meet. I filed charges with the NLRB but those are still stuck in the bureaucracy. A historic number of union fights means they're still historically backed up with cases even older than mine.

I have carefully rationed out funds I raised for nearly a year now, but they run out soon. I have searched for other work, but I'm an anarchist trans woman who's higher-risk for covid, so it's incredibly difficult.

So if you have the funds, please consider helping me out at the link above. As it stands within 2-3 weeks my life gets incredibly "can I even stay housed" difficult, all for fighting for basic labor rights.

The other night I attended a firefly walk and got to see synchronous fireflies for the first time. It was a spectacular show in the forest.

Photographing them was a challenge since the forest was so dark and I couldn’t turn on a flash light to focus. I have another shot that I really like but I missed focus by a little bit and it really bothers me. It was a great learning experience and I’m excited to try again next year with a better understanding of what I need to do better.

The first thing I’d change is my lens selection. I was using a 50mm f/1.4 that I recently got but its got too much spherical and comatic aberration to make it a good night photography lens.

I’d also make a little glow-in-the-dark tag I could place in frame to focus on since I don’t want to disturb the fireflies with a flashlight.

A popular way to photograph fireflies is to take an exposure just after dusk and the stack other firefly exposures on top of that. This is definitely a good idea but would limit the amount of shots you could get in a night and you’d better hope you’ve got fireflies in frame. I guess you could do this with multiple tripods instead and leave those locked in place. Anyway, I’m rambling now…

"Good and bad is tricky," she said. "I ain't too certain about where people stand. P'raps what matters is which way you face.”

― Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad

✹ f r. ui ts.