In my somewhat misspent youth, I once went to Alaska in the hope and expectation that I would be an emergency forest fire fighter in the summer and make a ton of money. It was, alas, wishful thinking—and a long story—and while I didn't actually make a dime, I had a great, if costly, adventure. I had to hitchhike much of the way home, and en route, I camped out in a field off the highway and experienced a species of heaven, as more fireflies than I'd ever seen in my lifetime put on their nightly show. In our neighborhood, the Light Show, as firefly guidebook Lynn Frierson Faust author calls the spectacular around her one-time Tennessee cabin in the Great Smokies, is much more modest, but the lightning bugs, which, of course, are actually bioluminescent beetles, do put on a reliable, if diminished by overdevelopment, drought, and, in too many places, light pollution, display. This photo is not the real thing. It's a composite of five individual shots, each a capture of five seconds, which I, thanks to the focus stacking capabilities of Affinity Photo, married together. It's what a walk through summer nights should be, and, in my memory at least, once were.