David Mathre Photography

This Day of the Year

  • Independence Day Fireworks (26-June-2025)

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    David Mathre
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    Montgomery Township New Jersey. Independence Day Fireworks.

    Montgomery Township typically celebrates Independence Day with fireworks several days before the 4th of July. I live near a great location that overlooks the high school where the township holds the Independence Day celebration. It is away from the crowds. I got there just before sunset. One car arrived before me but there was still plenty of space to set up the tripods and cameras. In 2023, one camera wasn’t in focus, so I made sure all of the cameras were set up, framed and focused. I confirmed that the memory cards were inserted, and the batteries fully charged. Also, since the cameras were all on tripods, I made sure that the “vibration reduction/stabilization” was turned off. As it got dark a few fireflies were visible, but since the fireworks are orders of magnitude brighter than the fireflies you won’t see both in the images. I set the cameras up as follows: Base ISO (50, 64, or 100 depending on the camera), f/11, and 8 second exposures with the intervalometer set to repeat until stopped. It appeared that the folks running the show waited for a train to pass before starting. The fireworks started just before 21:25. It took a little bit of time to confirm the framing, focus, and to start the interval timers.

    Images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

    Images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

    Images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

    Images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

    Images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

    Montgomery Township Fireworks from previous years. 27-June-2024, 29-June-2023, 30-June-2022, 28-June-2018, 28-June-2012, 30-June-2011

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  • Whitetail Dragonfly on a Stick (20-June-2008)

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    David Mathre
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    Seventeen-Years Ago Today. Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

    I noticed this dragonfly on a stick while on my afternoon backyard walkabout. This was on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. It is a male Common Whitetail Dragonfly (Plathemis lydia) also known as a longtail skimmer. I see them quite often in the back yard, more so now that I have enlarged the pond. I consider them valuable since they consume mosquitoes (both adult and mosquito larvae). This one seems to have part of its rear wing damaged. You can spend hours watching their aerial acrobatics while guarding their territory.

    Dragonfly on a stick. Backyard spring nature in new Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 200 mm f/2 telephoto lens and TC-E II 2x teleconverter (ISO 900, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec).
    Dragonfly on a stick. Backyard spring nature in new Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 200 mm f/2 telephoto lens and TC-E II 2x teleconverter (ISO 900, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec).

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  • Wrong Side of the Fence (19-June-2019)

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    David Mathre
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    Six-Years Ago Today. Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

    Garden Gnome caught on the wrong side of the electric deer fence. It looks like the American Crow was on guard duty. The electric deer fence was not effective keeping the deer out and ultimately was replaced with an eight-foot-tall deer fence. A project completed while staying at home during the Covid-19 period.

    American Crow and Garden Gnome. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS telephoto zoom lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec).

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  • Hairy Spider (18-June-2018)

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    David Mathre
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    Seven-Years Ago Today. Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

    I noticed this hairy spider with some iridescent green at my front door. It stuck around long enough for me to get a camera with a macro lens. I think it is fascinating how many eyes spiders have. I just wish it would do a better job keeping the stink-bug population down.

    Hairy Spider at my Front Door. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 160, f/4, 1/160 sec).
    Hairy Spider at my Front Door. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 160, f/4, 1/160 sec).

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  • Pink Clouds at Dawn (17-June-2014)

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    Eleven-Years Ago Today. Semester at Sea Summer 2014 Semester Voyage.

    Dawn pink clouds over the Atlantic Ocean viewed from the deck of the MV Explorer as we traveled from England to Portugal. I was out most mornings and evenings to watch the sun rise and set while on the Semester at Sea voyages. Semester at Sea no longer does the Enrichment Voyages or the Summer Semester Voyages.

    Pink clouds at dawn over the Atlantic Ocean from the deck of the MV Explorer. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera.
    Pink clouds at dawn over the Atlantic Ocean. Viewed from the deck of the MV Explorer. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera.

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  • Wildflower Meadow Selfie (16-June-2020)

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    Five-Years Ago Today. Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

    Back in the days of Covid-19 I had the backyard wildflower meadow as my own private outdoor retreat. This is a Little Planet selfie view of the wildflower meadow. The main flowers at that time were the yellow Lance-leaf Coreopsis. There are also a few Red Poppies, Larkspur, and Blue Cornflowers (Bachelor Buttons). This was before the new 8-foot deer fence. Back then I was using a lower electric fence that the deer would jump over. So, the main wildflowers were the ones that the deer didn’t eat. I wore the overalls to protect myself from the deer ticks.

    Wildflower Meadow — Little Planet View. Image taken with a Garmin VIRB-360 camera (ISO 100, 1 mm, f/2, 1/1996 sec).

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  • Honeysuckle Flowers (15-June-2018)

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    Seven-Years Ago Today. Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

    I love the smell of the Honeysuckle flowers. I used to have a lot of the vines growing in my backyard. In recent years I haven’t seen as many of the flowers. This week I did see a vine and some of the flowers on the deer fence which I will leave and hope more return.

    Honeysuckle Flowers. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens.
    Honeysuckle Flowers. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens.

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  • Emerging Mosquito (14-June-2018)

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    Seven-Years Ago Today. Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

    I noticed a Mosquito emerging from some standing water in my backyard. I have seen mosquito larvae before, but not one emerging. After taking the picture, I drained all of the standing water I could find as there had been reports of the Dengue Fever, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and the Nile Virus being spread by mosquitos. And I don’t like being bitten by mosquitoes when I go out at night to watch the fireflies.

    Mosquito emerging from the water. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens.
    Mosquito emerging from the water. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens.

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  • Homegrown Pineapple (13-June-2017)

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    Eight-Years Ago Today. Backyard Urban Garden in St. Petersburg, Florida.

    A Pineapple growing in my parent’s backyard urban garden. When I worked at the produce department at Publix, the manager told me that I could grow a Pineapple from the tops of the fruit we cut off and would have discarded. It would take a couple of years for the plant to grow big enough to produce the fruit again. Somewhere else I learned that calcium carbide can be used to induce flowering in one year old plants. The calcium carbide reacts with water to produce acetylene gas which is similar (but not the same) as ethylene.

    Pineapple. Backyard urban garden in St. Petersburg. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 138 mm, f/11 1/60 sec).
    Pineapple. Backyard urban garden in St. Petersburg. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 138 mm, f/11 1/60 sec).

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  • Snowy Egret and the Fisherman (12-June-2010)

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    David Mathre
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    Fifteen-Years Ago Today. Fort De Soto Park in Pinellas County, Florida.

    A Snowy Egret watching a fisherman casting at net along the beach at Fort De Soto Park.

    Snowy Egret (Egretta thula). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 70-300 mm VR lens.

    More images from Fort De Soto Park from that day are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

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About the author

I am a scientist by training (Eckerd College, BSc; Caltech, Ph.D.). I worked for 27 years as a Chemist in the Pharmaceutical Industry developing processes to manufacture medicines for human and animal health. I now spend my time as a photographer and world traveler. My interests include the natural world, wildlife, landscapes, sky, and seascapes, travel, and astrophotography. I look for unique ways of viewing the world and presenting my images. I have traveled to over 55 countries in six continents, often on Semester at Sea voyages. While at home in New Jersey, I spend time observing and photographing the plants and animals while expanding a wildflower garden/meadow in the backyard. When the sky is clear, I have telescopes viewing the night sky.

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