Invasion of the Eight-Spotted Foresters {New Braunfels photographer}

Spring is in full bloom, along with wonderful light, but I've been so busy with my book that I haven't had much opportunity to take my camera out to shoot anything. That changed suddenly yesterday, when I went out into the back yard to check on the beagles. That's when I noticed something had made a nice meal of a bunch of leaves on my grape vines. I've got several grape vines growing along the kennel fence--including muscadines--all of which are supposed to be generally pest free. So I looked a little closer and discovered these little fellows hiding under the leaves:

Now, we get quite a few caterpillars at out house, because of all the passion vines I like to grow. But I've never seen this type before, and in the eight-plus years we've lived here, I've never seen anything munch on the grape vines. So I rushed into the house, grabbed my camera and macro lens, and spent the next 20 or so minutes contorting this way and that to get some good closeup shots of these interesting, white-and-black-and-orange caterpillars. Turns out they are likely the juvenile form of the Eight-Spotted Forester moth--a fairly pretty moth, actually--but one whose young likes to munch on grape vines.

Fortunately, the damage doesn't appear too extensive, and they show no sign of going after the young fruit, only the leaves. I'll keep an eye on them and come up with some sort of relocation plan if their population explodes. To be honest, I'm glad they paid me a visit. It gave me an excuse to play with macro photography, and I always love photographing caterpillars. They look like creatures from an alien world to me. They're beautiful, and someday I hope to do a whole series of prints featuring the different species I've shot. I'll leave you now with one final image, not of the Eight-Spotted Foresters, but one of many Gulf Fritillary caterpillars currently gorging themselves on my passion vines. This one's treating a blue caerulea passion flower as its own personal buffet. I think the colors are otherworldly. Enjoy!

Lisa On Location Photography

A Long Over-due Return of a Great Talent {New Braunfels concert photography}

I'm one of those lucky people who meets a lot of people. It's part of my line of work. With my former career as a journalist I was honored to cross paths with many great civic and political leaders -- and some not so great political leaders. I could smile and nod and perform my interview and then be gone, never revealing to my subject whether I had any intention of voting for them.

Being married to a writer has also allowed me access to many of the great writers of this generation. There isn't enough time in my world to read all of their books, but they're lovely people to know.

But I get down right giddy when I get an opportunity to meet and photograph an entertainer I admire from my own youth, especially someone as talented as the Great Hal Ketchum.

Hal came into fame in the late 80s and early 90s. Most of you will know him for his hits "Small Town Saturday Night," "Past the Point of Rescue," and "Hearts Are Gonna Roll," which all took top 3 spots on the Billboard Hot Country charts. In all he's had about 17 entries on that chart with one of his albums certified Gold by the recording industry.


His daughter approached me several months ago about photographing his return to the public eye at the famous Luckenbach Dance Hall. Hal has taken a break from recording for the past few years to take care of his health -- being diagnosed with a neurological condition and having to relearn to play the guitar.

He took advantage of his break, however to write some new material, which I was honored to hear the other night. I had never been to Luckenbach before although I'd heard about it often. It's comfortable and clean with just enough cheesy old junk to be interesting for the non-country folk. And they sell Shiner of course so there's another plus. Jayme and I took The Boy with us on this gig, thinking it would be fun for him too and it was. He had fun catching fire flies near the horseshoe pits and playing with his official potato gun they sold in the gift shop for only three dollars and 50 cents.


His return to performing live was well received by his public in Luckenbach. The crowd of hundreds fell silent during his a capella performances, mesmerized by his voice. Yet happy and boisterous during his upbeat tempos. I'm hoping this is the start of a new paragraph in the biography of the Great Hal Ketchum.



Lisa On Location Photography