Year: 2013

Weekend Photography Fun

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It has been almost three (3) months since my last photography trip.  Over the last twelve (12) months I have been so busy it has kept me from finding time to go shooting as often as I would like.  This past weekend I finally found some free time to grab my camera and head out into the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve and the Big Cypress National Preserve.  My primary purpose for going was to check on the ghost orchids this year.  The ghost orchids I know about were only in the early stages of blooming and still have a few more weeks before producing a flower.

One of the highlights of this trip was stumbling across a mama bear and her three (3) cubs in the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve.  They crossed Jane’s Scenic Drive about fifty (50) yards in front of the truck.  I also saw the usual number of alligators, a few dear and a couple of water moccasins.

This trip I also had the opportunity to take a swamp buggy tour and airboat ride to get a different perspective than my normal hiking on foot would provide me.  It was great to get back out into the Everglades for a few days and take a couple of pictures while I was out there.

The Air Boat Ride was through Airboat in Everglades.  The guide was a friend of mine named Ozzie.  I had a great time and he put me up close and personal to a few alligators and birds.  He also taught me some things about the everglades I did not know.  I highly recommend the company to anyone interested in seeing the Everglades by airboat.  It was a unique experience and different than any other airboat tour I have ever been on.

The swamp buggy ride was through Wootens on Tamiami Trail.  I had never been on a swamp buggy before but enjoyed the experience and the perspective  one gets from sitting so high up.  The guide’s name was Shelley and she was very informative.  Her family has lived in the glades for generations and I enjoyed the history and stories she had to tell.

My favorite photo of the weekend was of a lone cypress tree with a building storm system behind it.  The sun was behind me and low causing great light on the tree and surrounding foreground.  I decided to use HDR to capture the full range of lighting conditions.  Unfortunately, I did not have my tripod with me and had to take the shots handheld resulting in a little extra work to align all three shots together.   I was happy with the final result and will be adding the image to my website.

Cattail Twilight Sunrise

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On my way into the park on my Cowhorn Orchid Trip I took the time to stop and shoot a sunrise at a lake I had not been to in quite some time.  I found some interesting cattails at the lake and decided to try and use them as my foreground subject.  As a bonus, there was fog moving across the lake due to the cold air interacting with the warmer water.  I had some difficulty capturing the shot due to the wind causing the cattails to sway back and forth.  As a result, I had to try and time my shots carefully to get as little movement as possible.  The shot below was taken just before the sun rose over the horizon.

Cattail Twilight Sunrise

Everglades National Park Cowhorn Orchid

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For some time now, I have been trying to find a large Cowhorn Orchid I had been told existed somewhere in Everglades National Park.  I have found many Cowhorn Orchids before during my hikes throughout Everglades and Big Cypress National Parks, however, I wanted to find this particular Cowhorn Orchid due to its extraordinary size.

I finally had some time this past week to make a trip to the location I thought the orchid could be found.  I went with a photographer friend of mine, Robert Chaplin, on this trip.  After a good bit of hiking and a lot of exploring we successfully found the orchid.  Not only did we find it, but we also were rewarded as it was already in full bloom.  I took some documentary pictures of it and hope to go back soon to try and do something more creative with it before the blooms begin to die.

Everglades Mangrove Sunrise

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I ran out this morning for a quick early morning photography trip.  My main purpose was to go to Eco Pond in Flamingo to see if the birds had arrived yet.  However, I got talked in to getting up early enough to shoot a sunrise on the way down by Robert Chaplin who was also headed out to Everglades National Park.

We stopped at a place I have shot before but never liked any of my results.  It is a location with numerous mangrove trees growing in small clumps surrounded by shallow water.  In theory this spot should produce some great sunrise photos but to date has not been productive for me.  This morning at least produced a photo I like compositionally but I am still not sold on it.  I wish I would have had more clouds or more overall color reflected in the water.  However, I still like this photo and I will continue to clean it up a little bit to see if I can get a final result I am satisfied with.

Everglades Mangrove Sunrise

Wakodahatchee Wetlands

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This past weekend I rode along with a photographer friend of mine, Robert Chaplin, who was scouting for his upcoming bird workshop.  We took a trip up to Wakodahatchee Wetlands near Delray Beach in Palm Beach County, Florida.  Wakodahatchee Wetlands is an oasis in the middle of housing developments.  Being so close to Everglades National Park and the abundant wildlife, I did not have high expectations of the Wakodahatchee Wetlands despite reading some good reports.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The Wakodahatchee Wetlands were as good as any location I have photographed in Everglades National Park and in some respects the Wakodahatchee Wetlands were better.

The Wakodahatchee Wetlands consists of an elevated boardwalk that leads you on a .5 mile round trip hike.  Along the way are numerous trees with roosting Great Blue Herons and Anhingas.  On this trip many already had chicks in the nests, others were still building nests.  There were also Night Herons, Snowy Egrets, a wide variety of Ducks, Tri-color Herons, Little Blue Herons, Ibis and other wading birds.  Alligators were also swimming in the shallow waters and sunning themselves on the shorelines.  I got there early in the morning while the birds were still active flying two and from their nests and feeding in the shallow waters.

The highlight of this trip was a Great Blue Heron couple that were building a nest in a nearby tree off of the boardwalk.  I was able to capture a few good shots of one of the Heron’s gathering nesting materials and flying to and from the nest.

I only spent about an hour at Wakodahatchee but it is definitely on my list of places to return to.  Below are a few of the photos I captured on this trip.

Everglades Seasons

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Since I have not had the opportunity to capture any new images over the last few months, I have been going through some of my old images and organizing my folders.  During this process, I discovered that I had captured the same location with almost the exactly same composition in two different photos.  One was taken during the winter and one was taken during the summer.  The images, although the same subject, have a dramatically different feel due to the color variations of the grass and sky as a result of the different times of year in which the photos were taken.

The Winter photo is full of browns, reds and yellows and the sunset that night was not very vibrant.  Whereas the Summer photo is full of dark greens and the sunset produced very vibrant pinks and purples across the sky which was reflected in the water.  I like both images and have the summer version hanging in my dining room only because the colors better match the decor that my wife had chosen.

These photos illustrate how dramatically the same subject matter, scene or landscape can change depending on the shooting conditions.  A different season, sky color, cloud shape or water levels can result in a completely different captured image.  In this case, both images came out good.  However, I have shot other locations where one photo was unusable and very bland but after going back to the same location with different conditions the captured image became one of the favorites in my collection.

The moral of this post is to encourage everyone to shoot every location or subject multiple times to see what time of year, day or atmospheric conditions or light produces the best photo.

The photos below are of an air boat ramp off of State Road 41 in South Florida.  They were both taken after sunset during the civil twilight using long shutter speeds to smooth out the water and saturate the colors.  Both were also taken from an elevated position with the vantage point of the winter photo being higher than the summer photo.

Everglades Coalition Conference 2013

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I had the opportunity to attend the 28th Annual Everglades Coalition Conference this past weekend in Coral Gables, Florida.  The Everglades Coalition Conference is a three (3) day conference dedicated to discussing legislative initiatives related to the Everglades ecosystem as well as initiatives related to Everglades restoration, conservation, preservation and management.  There were representative profit and non-profit organizations from the National, State and local levels in attendance at the conference.

Although I did not engage in any photography while at the conference, I found the topics discussed to be very educational and enlightening.  Guest speakers and panels discussions had individuals from the Water Management District, Army Core of Engineers, Federal and State Congressmen and women, fishing guides, scientists, agriculturalists and sportsmen.  Each presenter brought a different perspective and different methodologies to the conversation but the underlying goal was the same, preserve the Everglades and the animals and plants contained therein for future generations enjoyment.

The primary message I got from the conference was that although we have made great strides in Everglades restoration, preservation and conservation we have a long ways to go before we can declare victory.  Through my many hours spent driving, walking, fishing, camping and photographing the Everglades I have developed a great love and respect for this ecosystem.  However, it would be more enjoyable without the millions of mosquitoes.  I plan on doing my part in getting out the message and working toward restoring and preserving the Everglades for my children and grandchildren.