I missed April but here’s an image for you guys to download for your computer desktops. Please respect my copyright and restrict this to personal use and sharing with friends. Click on the link, not the image.
Two weekends in a row I have been able to get out exploring Big Cypress with Mac Stone, a great photographer working down here for Audubon. It is the end of the dry season, so water is at it’s lowest. This allowed for much quicker travel, and we covered a lot more ground. Last week, we hopped from gator hole to gator hole, where the last of the water remained. They are called gator holes because the gators will dig out what may already be a depression to create small ponds. This can keep fish alive, one food source for gators, and attract others like raccoons looking for water.
We found this one gator almost buried in the mud, and it wanted to keep its mud-hole to himself. Fortunately, it led to some different perspectives for our photographs.
This weekend, we were joined by Neil Losin and Garl and we went out to Robert’s Lake Strand. Upon getting to the lake, we saw tons of alligators and something very unexpected, a bear! My first bear in South Florida, although I have seen signs several times. It caught wind of us from across the lake and ambled off. We pressed on to another smaller lake and along the way, found this beautiful little moccasin. It posed so nicely and I am really happy to get this wide-angle image of it. I was at the minimum focusing distance for my lens and it was a bit nerve racking to be so close to a venomous snake, but it really goes to show they are not nearly as aggressive as their unfortunate reputation.
You can also see from this photo why they are also called the cottonmouth.
We continued on to the next lake and again saw it crowded with alligators. As we sat and ate lunch, we noticed them lunge into the air and come down sideways, attempting to catch the also crowded fish. It was great entertainment and I put together this little sequence of one.
We pressed on to the last area for the day and one of the most visually promising for landscapes. The swamp is so intense, with so many details, that it is always a great experience. It is not however, usually the most productive for landscape images. It is more about eliminating details from your image and that can be quite hard to do when everything crowds in on itself. Epiphytes, vines, shrubs, aquatic plants, trees going up, trees fallen down…lots of lines that don’t want to organize easily into an image. So with that said, I got a somewhat decent landscape, it probably won’t make it into the portfolio but it is always fun to exercise the brain.
What I liked about this image was how the light played on the distant layers of vegetation and the clean foreground, so hard to find. I may have moved a fallen twig or two though. =) And then began the 3 mile hike back to the car. I gotta say, my feet feel it a bit after all that tromping.
2 weeks ago I participated in Artfest Ft. Myers. So, after setting up on Friday I ran over to the Ft. Myers Beach Pier hoping for a nice sunset over it. I got a decent sunset but after that I continued to shoot. I never seem to be happy with just one take on a place and many times my favorite develops after I have gone through a few compositions. Anyways, here are a few different views I took. My personal favorite is the last, taken in the perfect balance of natural twilight and the glow of artificial lighting.
Thanks for looking!
Paul
I am not a morning person. As a photographer, this can be a big hindrance. It means I am missing 50% of the good-light opportunities of the day. If you look through my portfolio you will notice a lot of sunsets. The sunrises, however, are a bit limited.
One thing that sunrises have that definitely helps pull me out of bed, is the possibility of fog. I always strive to have a mood or atmosphere to my images. This can be created most easily by lighting at the ends of the day(sunrise/sunset). Fog, however, really can ramp things up.
In the Everglades, I seem to gravitate to the pinelands when it is foggy. Sometimes hard to shot, the fog can really simplify things and allow you to isolate elements easier. I went out twice recently and got several images I am happy with.
The first morning I stayed around the Long Pine Key Campground. There is a lake there with an awesome island of pines that is a wonderful element. I created this panoramic before the sun came up and the moody blues really helped here.
The Still of Morning
This morning was so thick with fog, and you could hear the condensation dripping off the trees. It was perfectly still and quiet. As the sun broke through the fog I hiked out in the pinelands to get a composition I had in mind but never with these conditions. As I was hiking out to this spot (1 mile away) I could hear turkeys calling. They were reintroduced to Long Pine key after several attempts and it is good to know they have stuck around and not become bobcat food.
A New Beginning
I hiked back to the lake to see how everything looked with different lighting conditions and got this tighter shot of the island.
This was the first shoot of the year and for several months. It definitely helped renew my desire to get out and to create new images.
As the forecast called for fog again, I ran out a week later and it happened to coincide with the full moon. What is great about the full moon is that it rises and sets opposite the sun. This can help with the evening out of lighting conditions and lead to some dramatic images.
As I was driving out this morning I noticed the fog wasn’t as thick as I wanted. I was thinking of running out to the dwarf cypress but decided to go to Pine Glades Lake. I figured getting the moon setting would be a nice image. I waited until the sun was about the break the horizon and got this image. It is a single image double processed to just barely bring back the overly bright moon. The sun’s light on the foreground helped to even out the dynamic range.
Moonset Over Pine Glades Lake
I briefly walked back into the pinelands and shot this clump of pines, with a nice glow behind them.
Fog doesn’t always help produce dramatic images but sometimes subtle is what you need. Still there is no denying it helps set the mood. Have a great weekend everyone!
Hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far. Sorry for the lack of new posts, been busy with the business side of things. I have never done this before, but I am providing some free desktop wallpapers. Please respect my copyright and restrict these to personal use. I would love you to share them with friends, but I am giving them a way, so please refrain from abusing my trust.
Also a reminder to the Miami locals, I have some art shows coming up and a display in the Everglades National Park visitor center through the end of January. Would love for you guys to stop by.
Again, Happy Holidays.
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Alligator Desktop Calendar (171)
