back on the blogging track.

busch gardens are totally fun on saturday, but so much fun that i felt like i was run over by a bus on sunday morning. so two days without blogging – ouch. :(

i spent yesterday practicing different lighting techniques and discussing wedding arrangements with a client. this upcoming weekend i have four shoots and am currently bouncing in between ideas of the absolute best place for two undecided ones. i’ve been going to shelley lake lately to see if it has any potential as a shooting location, but it’s usually dark by the time i get there.

beautiful views there at night:

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but the bugs are horrendous so we didn’t stay very long.

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patiently waiting to leave so he can stop being bitten alive.

shelley lake looks like an awesome place to go in the fall when all of the leaves have changed. they have a lot of great walking and bike trails. might be a little boring for pictures in the summer unless you want green leaves as your constant backdrop, but i think i’ll try it in the fall. i’d have to have a client who liked to walk – i made the mistake of thinking the trail would be short and ended up covered in sweat 2.5 miles later in 100 degree heat.

also, love the impromptu drawings on the exercise signs along the trail:

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happy standing still, very sad while doing any physical activity.

i also found a lovely little toad this past weekend. he reminded me of toad from the books frog and toad, but i guess i’m not very imaginative, am i? :) he was very cute. the last picture made it into my portfolio – i love it. it’s like the where’s waldo? of toad shots.

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deet: a photographic essay on why you should embrace it.

this is probably the only pro-deet blog you will ever read. but after i found that a follower of my blog found me through searching the internet for information about the mosquito population on cape hatteras, i decided it was time to educate the public.

let’s back up. for those who aren’t in heavily mosquito infested states, deet is the most common ingredient (chemical) in bug spray. you pretty much take a deet shower when applying Off! to go camping. it’s all good, right?

sure, according to this wikipedia article, not only is deet a pesticide, toxic to fish, and harmful to the environment…it also has severe effects on your health such as seizures, insomnia, mood disorders, impaired cognitive function, and death.

but you know what else gives me insomnia, mood disorders, and impairs my cognitive functions? mosquitoes.

from june to september you are a walking feast for thousands of buzzing blood suckers in north carolina. day in, day out. there is no rest. there is no peace. they are particularly bad near the shore. while on vacation, i counted 16 mosquito bites on my left leg alone.

and that’s just going from the car to taking an outdoor shower (stupid, i know), and running in a panic up the steps to the deck, swinging at all insects in sight. this was, of course, without applying deet.

i have tried just about every organic and deet-free insect repellent out there. and let me tell you my friends, they just don’t cut it. in fact, the more deet the better. we actually went insect repellent shopping and bought Off! Deepwoods Cutter because it contained the most deet out of every other product… and we weren’t messing around.

off-copy“now with more deet.”

beach-404-copy“contains the most deet legally allowed by law.”

while we were at the beach we actually saw large trucks driving around spraying everyone’s yard with what we assumed to be large quantities of deet. i wanted to joyfully run in its mist, but thought the chances of my skin falling off might be a little too real then. afterall, it was probably industrial strength deet.

without the deet, the mosquitoes feasted. and it was horrendous. we were up all night, groans and snarls while we furiously itched our legs. i remember geoff getting up in a stupor one night, running into the living room and spraying his legs blindly with bactine while half asleep. talk about insomnia, mood disorders, and impaired cognitive functions.

with the deet, there was relative peace with the mosquitoes and 100% avoidance from green head flies (another north carolina pest). i have found that no product works better. so bring on the seizures, mood disorders, and death! mosquitoes cause all those things anyway! i’d rather take my chances with the deet.

dad-copydad in happier times: inside. not pictured: giant can of deet just off camera.

in related deet news, while on vacation we found a wonderful surprise in our rented house. there were two journals filled with entries from previous guests and the owners.

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besides the obvious hilarity we found from reading hundreds of pages written by strangers, who at the best of times were polite and sane and at the worst of times were pretty much lunatics, we also took great delight in writing an entry ourselves. we gathered what we had learned over the week and wrote several lists of tips for the guests about the house, area, and other stuff.

among the tips was a list of DRAs: Deet-Required Destinations. and, since some poor soul following my blog inquired about the mosquito population in cape hatteras, i decided to repost the list to raise mosquito awareness and aide in the prevention of itchy insanity while you’re at the beach. these are destinations where you will require a heavy shower of deet before you go:

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tiny mosquito drawings courtesy of steve scott.

DRDs:

1. the outside shower

2.the ouside

3. the path to the [pamlico] sound

4. the [pamlico] sound

5. the path to the beach

6. the sandy part of the beach

7. all roads in ocracoke (dear god do not visit the ponies)

8. anywhere that you see people running and slapping themselves

9. anywhere that is not air conditioned or underwater

:) have a great friday! see you on saturday.