“I like to capture the magic.” — photographer Radim Schreiber
The little luminary pictured above was photographed in 2010 by award-winning photographer Radim Schreiber, of Fairfield, Iowa. The photo, entitled Amber Firefly, took 1st place out of 56,000 entries in “The Natural World” category at the 8th annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest published in March 2011.
A designer, photographer and videographer, formerly for the Sky Factory, Radim has won several national and international photography competitions. Also in 2011 he took 1st place in the 41st annual National Wildlife Photo Contest in the “Backyard Habitat” professional category out of 27,000 entries. He won the 2010 Galapagos Conservancy Photography Contest, and the 2008 and 2009 Rainforest Alliance’s “Picture Sustainability” Photo Contest. Awards are listed on his website.
Radim Schreiber had rarely seen fireflies back home and was surprised and thrilled by their abundance here in Iowa. He started taking still photos and then made a movie of them.
“In the Czech Republic where I grew up, I only saw fireflies a couple of times, deep in the forest. When I came to the United States, I was shocked and thrilled to see the abundance of fireflies and their amazing glow. I was happy to encounter this firefly and photograph its magical bioluminescence.”
Read this July 2011 Iowa Source interview with Christine Schrum to find out how Radim braved ditches, swamps, mosquitoes, and chiggers to obtain his fantastic firefly photos: Stalking Fireflies in the Night.
Radim’s award-winning firefly images have been featured at CBS, NPR, National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Iowa PBS (Iowa Outdoors, Ep. Aug 11, 2013, go to 13:15, Fireflies In Iowa) The Weather Channel, The National Wildlife Federation, and KEW – Royal Botanical Gardens. Read more in Mo Ellis’s updated profile of Radim on the MIU website.
Update Insert: On March 24, 2016 I found out that Radim’s photo, Synchronous Fireflies, won the Altered Images category of the 13th Annual Smithsonian.com Photo Contest. The next day The Des Moines Register wrote: Fairfield photographer’s fireflies win Smithsonian award.
The photo was taken mid-June 2014* at twilight in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. Radim was in almost complete darkness surrounded by fireflies and witnessed one of the most amazing and magical natural phenomena—fireflies that synchronize. He used the latest low-light camera technology and took several long exposures over several minutes and merged them together to preserve detail and clarity. He uploaded it November 2015 and it was selected as Shot Of The Day on December 24, 2015, then Editors’ Pick, Finalist, and now Altered Images Winner. Radim had used this photo for the cover of his Firefly Experience film described below.
The Firefly Experience on Film
This summer I saw a magical little film at the first annual Creative Edge Film Fest in Fairfield, Iowa. Made by fellow MUM alum Radim Schreiber, BFA, it was so beautifully put together visually and musically, the audience was spellbound. When it was over, the 2½-minute short elicited an extended exuberant response.
In this film, Radim Schreiber tried to capture his experiences with fireflies in Lamson Woods, a State Preserve and segment of the Jefferson County Trails System near his house in Fairfield, Iowa. He wanted to document not only their beauty and magical glow, but also behavior in their natural environment, the Neff Wetlands section of the Fairfield Loop Trail.
“When I walk through a quiet forest in the middle of the night full of fireflies, I have an experience of a magical forest. When I see fireflies being a mere reflection of stars under the Milky Way, I feel connected to everything in the universe. They are communicating to me. I am listening.”
Radim chose to not do any digital manipulation to the video itself. The footage came straight from the camera. This is not time-lapse photography, but realtime footage of fireflies!
Radim Schreiber’s Firefly Experience is synchronistically edited with a beautiful soundtrack specifically composed and performed for the film by Tiko Lasola. Radim loves the song. “It is a perfect match for my photos. In fact I was shocked that it happened this way.” I agree! After watching the film you can hear Tiko’s full 3½-minute Fireflies piece here.
After the screening, Radim was selling HD and Blu-ray DVDs of his film. I bought the Blu-ray. I never tire of watching and listening to it; it’s beautiful! It produces a calming effect.
For optimal viewing, Radim suggests we watch the video at night in full screen mode with all lights turned off and the sound turned up.
Visit Radim’s website to see more firefly photographs and videos at FireflyExperience.org.
A Firefly Poem
Have you ever experienced the magic of fireflies? I’ve seen them around Fairfield, but never like what I saw in eastern Missouri during a summer Residence Course in the early 1990s. I had driven with three other Maharishi Ayurveda Health Technicians to a movement facility in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri to provide rejuvenation therapies.
The building was located at the edge of the Mark Twain National Forest. The warm night air was thick with nature’s sounds and sights. Hundreds of frogs incessantly called out to each other from a pond behind the building. Swarms of fireflies dazzled me with their exuberant flashing lights as I walked around the grounds. Their colors and bubbly nature reminded me of Champagne! Inspired, I wrote this short four-line poem.
FIREFLIES
EFFERVESCENT FIREFLIES
PHOSPHORESCENT HUE
SPARKLING LUMINOSITY
EVENING DROPS OF DEW
See newer photos by Radim Schreiber in his July 2017 newsletter.
*In July 2018, I discovered CBS Sunday Morning was also there that same summer in 2014 when Radim was capturing his award-winning photographs of the synchronous fireflies. They posted their report on July 13, 2014: Tennessee fireflies: A summertime light show.
Iowa PBS posted this Aug 22, 2013 profile on Radim’s work in their Iowa Outdoors series: Fireflies in Iowa.
New: This summer, August 2020, a video and a magazine cover story came out about Radim Schreiber and his work.
Frances Figart, editor of Smokies Life Magazine, interviewed Radim for their spring 2020 issue, Vol 14 #1. They created a wrap-around glow-in-the-dark firefly cover with one of Radim’s images of the famous lightning bugs of Elkmont. The edition’s cover story featured a sidebar about Radim and showed many of his incredible photographs. They also included a special video introducing Radim and his work. See Illuminating the Magic and Mystery: An Interview with Radim Schreiber, Firefly Photographer.
Radim posted the article and video on his website. Students in the Cinematic Arts and New Media Department at Maharishi International University made the short film. It was produced by assistant professor and award-winning filmmaker Amine Kouider. Amine is Chair of the department and a founding member of David Lynch Foundation Television. See Firefly Photographer Captures The Magic of Fireflies.
Radim was hired to film fireflies for the new Netflix series Alien Worlds. In Janus, Season 1 Episode 2, you see his work from 31:40 – 36:19.
On the evening of the full moon in July (7/13/22), Radim posted this stunningly beautiful photo on his Instagram radimphoto and wrote: Lightning Bugs and Full Moon. Photo I took last night in Fairfield Iowa. Multiple exposures, about hour total. Repost freely ❤️
On March 5, 2023, Radim sent out a newsletter announcing that last summer he had photographed a very elusive and endangered firefly species in the cypress swamps of southern Illinois. The “Cypress Firefly” Photuris walldoxeyi, first described by Lynn Fast, displays a unique flashing pattern. It has been Red Listed as vulnerable and has only so far been found in a handful of locations in four states — IL, IN, MS, and TN. See a short video of Cypress Firefly – Red List Vulnerable Species.
On April 8, 2024, Radim took photos of the total solar eclipse in Arkansas and made prints available on paper and metal of the Totality.
The Uncarved Blog 