gazania
may 30, 2006
my garden, florida

"the virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking.”
       --brooks anderson

"people are under the illusion that it's easy...technically, it is complex. you have a million options with equipment to distract you. i tell my students to simplify their equipment."
       --brett weston

nikon d2x, nikkor 60mm micro, 1/80, f/4.2, sb800 fill flash with a lightsphere diffusion dome, handheld

yellow bird
may 28, 2006
wiggins pass, florida

"your possessions should set you free like a boat or a pair of hiking boots. if you work for your possessions and they don't set you free, what are you working for?”
       --billy harris

three straight days of paddling the new kayak. pure bliss.

today, the intense florida sun illuminated the clear water of an incoming tide and made it a delicious translucent greenish-turquoise. a fine color match to my yellow boat, i must say.

this boat flies like the bird it is named for, the american kestrel. at 14 feet, it tracks remarkably well and i continuously beat my previous record times to wiggins pass by tens of minutes. after a good bit of fussing and redesigns, the otter dry box with the d2x fits easily either stowed under the bow or lashed to the deck for easy access.

and so we bond, this boat and i. after many decisions, a few loaners, hemming and hawing and a good bit of adjusting, we fit well together.

we set each other free.

nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 @ 12mm, 1/250, f/16

late spring skies
may 24, 2006
barefoot beach, florida

"among the many thousands of things that I have never been able to understand, one in particular stands out. that is the question of who was the first person who stood by a pile of sand and said, "you know, i bet if we took some of this and mixed it with a little potash and heated it, we could make a material that would be solid and yet transparent. we could call it glass." call me obtuse, but you could stand me on a beach till the end of time and never would it occur to me to try to make it into windows.”
       --bill bryson

after a week of solid cloud cover and the first hard rains of summer today, it was a fine day's end gift to walk on the beach, carrying the camera.

it was amazing light. most beachwalkers along this stretch of sand collect shells. me...i collect light. a burst of green flash exactly as the sun disappeared and then the flush of fire overhead.

i came home, sandy and gnawed through by noseeums, but richer by a light mile.

nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 @ 12mm, 1/10, f/18

wild nasturtiums
may 19, 2006
alexander creek, florida

"light makes photography. embrace light. admire it. love it. but above all, know light. know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography. ”
       --george eastman

nikon d2x, nikkor 24-120 vr @ 120 mm, 1/125, f/18

floating
may 19, 2006
rainbow springs, florida

"we can live lifetimes in a single day. ”
       --sheryl crow, "lifetimes" from wildflower

nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 @ 14mm, 1/80, f/18, nikon circular polarizer

clear blue water
may 20, 2006
silver river, florida

"springs add melody to the land. springs deliver messges to all of us. somehow they reach and salve hungers that transcent our conscious appetites. with their mystique, they become "watering holes of the spirit" where we can refill our imaginations with hope, where there is a pool of inspiration to revive our jaded views of the world.”
       --al burt, florida essayist

a friend and i made a trip to central florida to paddle and photograph some of the clearest fresh water on earth. ponce de leon once thought florida springs were the "fountain of youth" when he first discovered them. there are over 600 freshwater springs throughout central and northern florida. the springs are fed through florida's natural underground aquifers (rivers that run beneath florida) pumping up millions of gallons of water daily. limestone rock filters the water making it crystal clear.

the first river run of the trip was the silver river. in luscious afternoon light, we paddled from its confluence with the ocklawaha river to its headwaters where it discharges some 550+ million gallons of spring water daily from vents and boils. this water has been described as being "99.8% clear" by scientists, although that scant decimal difference to 100% is surely not apparent to the human eye. this water is clear with a capital "C".

silver springs is the largest (by flow) artesian spring in the world. these waters have been described as a "bowls of liquid light", "almost as transparent as the air we breathe", and "a silvery blue bed". it is all these things. it is more. around each corner, you are confronted with another glimpse below the surface that makes you gasp, by another play of light on and into the water that is completely unique, and by another way to describe the color blue.

these waters have been a destination for photographers for a long, long time, including cinematographers. most of the tarzan movies were filmed here, as were the movies "the yearling" and "creatures from the black lagoon", and over 100 episodes of "sea hunt"

a theme park with a very long and colorful history straddles the cul-de-sac headwaters. we paddled into the upper lagoon with its perfectly manicured lawns and gardens, edged by long docks of glass-bottomed boats and glimpses of carnival-type rides. frank sinatra singing "the lady is a tramp" blared from hidden speakers and mingled with the sounds of train or steamboat horn tooting and voices yelling "all aboard for a 6:00 departure!" and "hup hup, about face!". it was a moment from an episode of "the twilight zone". all this activity - endless loops of sinatra, voices yelling commands and departure times, forts, soldiers, trains, boats and one sleeping alligator on a perfect stretch of lawn - and not a soul in sight.

magic. mystery. and a good dose of just plain weird. i love florida.

"who that has ever floated on the bright waters of silver spring, or the bosom of the wakulla, has not felt his pulses thrill with delight at the almost unreal character of the scene?--the waters so pellucid that one seems suspended in mid-air; an azure tinge encircles every object and surrounds it with a halo of purplish light. it is not strange that they should be deemed to possess a renovating elixir, and to promise, to those who would dwell by their banks and disport in their waters, a restoration of youthful vigor and energy"
      --george rainsford fairbanks, "a history of florida" 1871

nikon d2x, nikkor 24-120 vr @ 24mm, 1/13, f/13, circular polarizer

dracaena
may 17, 2006
my garden, florida

"photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. ”
       --aaron siskind

nikon d2x, nikkor 60 micro 1/50, f/8

juvenile red shouldered hawk
may 14, 2006
fakahatchee strand, florida

"searching is everything - going beyond what you know. and the test of the search is really in the things themselves, the things you seek to understand. what is important is not what you think about them, but how they enlarge you. ”
       --wynn bullock

my day in the parched fakahatchee strand began with two deer on the dusty potholed road to the trailhead. the forest is so dense that when we eased slowly past the spot where they disappeared, nothing but a dark green and brown tangle of vegetation was visible.

this juvenile hawk seemed delighted to have visitors on a bright sunday morning. he followed us down the road and was waiting again when we emerged from the first trail hike of the day. he cried loudly for some good bit of time and i imagined a conversation that went like this:

"i'm young and i'm hungry and i'm thirsty and i would trade posed photographs for any of that water or those almonds you are carrying."

hard times in the forest. i'm certain i imagined the almond bit, though. and certainly no field mice in my pack for a handsome hawk.

nikon d2x, nikkor 80-400 vr @ 270mm, 1/80, f/6.3, iso 400

hitching a dangerous ride
may 14, 2006
fakahatchee strand, florida

"as soon as there is life, there is danger. ”
       --ralph waldo emerson

a friend has been urging me to spend time with my camera in the rich and biodiverse swamps of south florida. in all the years i have lived here, i have only read about the fakahatchee strand. the bug-free season of exploration has always been my work-hard season, limiting my time for adventures to such places.

of course, when i finally manage to weld time and opportunity together for a visit - just an hour from my doorstep - i do so in a period of severe drought. the swamp is parched and cracked - literally.

still, it's a good hike and in a short time, we're at a an old tin cabin plucked from the early 1900's. an old but useable dock extends out behind the cabin to what was once a large pond. today, it's dried up to just probably a foot or so deep in the middle and colored electric lime green by algae blooms. the water looks toxic, but even more amazingly, it is choked with alligators. we lose count at fifty, knowing there are probably twice that.

i sit mesmerized at the end of the dock. we watch them for a good hour or more as they - even more incredibly - find fish buried in the dark black muck. some of the larger alligators - impressively huge - put on feeding shows for us: they slither through the lime green water, shake their massive jaws in the muck, then arch dramatically, heaving themselves out of the water and back in, nose-down.

i can't decide: would i rather be a fish devoured by an alligator in this way, or a fish dying a slow death in this toxic soup?

dragonflies skittered around the edges of the pond in the breeze. some, such as this one, found unlikely taxi rides.

this pond is a curious place. obviously, in this severe drought, it is one of the few places alligators can actually find water. they bring an ominous presence to a little spot that is otherwise one of the most peaceful places i've been to in a long time.

we talk about this. we talk about how peaceful it is right now. we talk about night time here and think about coming back, flashlights and cameras in hand, trying to shoot that classic shot of all those eyes glowing in the dark.

all those eyes.

nikon d2x, nikkor 80-400 vr @ 270mm, 1/200, f/10, iso 400

happiness
may 12, 2006
barefoot beach, florida

"the most i can do for a friend is simply to be his friend. i have no wealth to bestow on him. if he knows that i am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. is not friendship divine in this?”
       --henry david thoreau

eager west-northwest winds off the water on the beach tonight blew the surface waters into one and two foot chop. shorebirds played their endless food games with the waves. such scurrying - such effort for a simple meal - never ceases to amaze me.

a first for me on the beach before sunset - a young couple being married at the edge of the water. only four or five people in the party, it was an intimate affair, unless you count all the other beachwalkers, swimmers and kids building sand castles. in the midst of all that activity, they gave off a sweet glow that was unmistakable. add another one to my growing list of "missed shots".

light fell quickly tonight, but rose again just as quickly as the full moon came up from the east behind the scrub and palms just off the beach. i played with a few manic shots - one west, one east, back west - until it made me dizzy in the near-dark and i gave up.

i have a friend, an extraordinary photographer himself, who regularly pulls off this kind low light photography. i don't know how he does it; i'm all fingers and full of failing at the braille of this talent myself. i walk back in the growing moonlight, weaving in and out of clusters of shorebirds and the long branches of my own shadow, smiling.

for every mystery skill, there is a key. i will have it one day. i will.

nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 @ 19mm, 2.5 seconds, f/22, gitzo tripod, rrs bh-55

splitting the sun through the middle
may 11, 2006
barefoot beach, florida

"So many miles, so many doors.
Some need patience, some need force.
All fall open in their own due course
To allow us this time.”
       --bruce cockburn, "look how far" from breakfast in new orleans, dinner in timbuktu

one of my best friends turned six today. i went across my canal to his birthday party, a gathering of kids, family, friends, dogs, fish, and one very green parrot named wasabi. at six, it's pretty hard for an adult to hold a boy's attention, but i managed to make chris actually shriek with happiness when i arrived with lizard tattoo tape. we spent a few minutes making hugely important decisions about placement, numbers, angles and of course, "sharing".  he got six of them, a given considering the occasion.

at least 3 of them survived the party. wasabi tried to attack susie, a feisty minature poodle, in a great flurry of green wings. chris blew his birthday candles out twice (i wished right along with him both times) and insisted we say grace at both dinner and dessert.

as we all held hands around the table and he said grace in a still half-boy/half-young man voice, i thought that this was clearly one of those "missed shots" i'd been discussing with another best friend recently. one giant ring of warm hands, warm hearts, happiness and celebration of six years in a young boy's life. green wings, poodle fur, bbq and chocolate cake. one small wrist with a lizard tattoo bracelet, and smiles across the table.

missed by the lens maybe, but not by the heart's memory.

nikon d2x, nikkor 80-400 vr @ 270mm, 1/25, f/22, gitzo tripod, rrs bh-55

along the roofline
may 4, 2006
bonita shores, florida

shot from my seawall looking down the canal into the sunset, this image was primarily a test of the vr of my long lens, which fails intermittently. once shot, though, i liked the roofline silhouette against the flaming western sky.

it's a curious thing. this roofline belongs to a new building - a "boatominium" - which now blocks much of my view of sunsets at the northwest end of the canal. i haven't liked this building whatsoever, yet this photo appeals to me because of the offending roofline. it's interesting that even those things which furrow our brow with displeasure can sometimes bring a bit of charm.

nikon d2x, nikkor 80-400 vr @ 400mm, 1/50, f/16

tiny key in skinny water
toptree hammock key
florida keys

the waters of the florida keys are constantly giving birth to new keys. the clear shallow waters are a nursery to many species in the spring, such as mangroves keys, sharks and stingrays.

it is a joy to paddle these waters this time of year. winds can be fierce in the spring, but the keys offer many protected bays in the leeward sides of the endless mangrove islands that make up the keys.

days on the water are a wonderful mix of paddling, floating, exploring, snorkeling and swimming. there isn't much more in life so completely enchanting.

photography there can be tricky. so much deeply saturated beauty, so much brilliant light. a polarizer is fairly essential. because my 77mm polarizer has become a casuality earlier in the trip, use of my favored 12-24 zoom was pretty much ruled out. instead, i used my 24-120 vr (which uses a 72mm polarizer), certainly my second choice of the two lenses. while just ok on the d100, this lens just does not perform well optically on the d2x.

you do what you can with what you have. the scenery itself is the real reward.

nikon d2x, nikkor 24-120 vr @ 24mm, 1/80, f/11, circular polarizer

sunrise
grassy key
florida keys

"when you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."
     --marcus aurelius

nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 dx @ 12mm, 2.5 seconds, f/13, tripod

sunrise on the beach
grassy key
florida keys

"anyone who says you can't see a thought simply doesn't know art."
     --wynetka ann reynolds

one of the unique delights of the florida keys is the ability to watch the sun rise at dawn across the atlantic, and just a few feet away, watch it sink into another ocean at sunset.

on this morning, the sunrise was gentle and lovely. it reminded me of another sunrise on anne's beach, some years back. quiet prevailed as tiny clouds passed overhead and light began its sweep across the landscape of turquoise water.

a half hour later, a five foot fall from the tripod onto tile made sparks shoot out the d2x. and three hours later, the compact flash cards went swimming in salt water and my circular polarizer developed a large starburst crack. still later that day, my vehicle backed into another vehicle, making a very loud noise and a good bit of damage. for such a gentle beginning, it was a long, long day.

amazingly, a very expensive camera lives up to its claim of a study build and after snapping a few plastic parts back into place, it still captures photographs. even more amazingly, after a thorough soak in fresh water, the compact flash cards do eventually dry out, and five days later, the photographs are once again mine.

two out of four isn't half bad.

nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 dx @ 12mm, 1/60, f/8, tripod

floating
april 28, 2006
lower florida keys

"i'm exchanging molecules every 30 days with the natural world and in a spiritual sense i know i am a part of it and take my photographs from that emotional feeling within me, rather than from an emotional distance as a spectator."
     --galen rowell

i'm still there this morning: walking through green skinny water, the kayak drifting behind me.

the florida keys are an explorer's paradise - a photographer's reward. every color is saturated to magnificant proportions. blue sky falls down into a hard edge with green water for as far as the eye can see. white shoals glisten.

i have made many trips - my kayak, camera and i - there to explore. this trip was full of new trails, new back country keys and new experiences. evidence of 2005's hurricane season are everywhere. nearly every key bears vegetation scars. still, beauty is unparalleled.

i'm still there this morning, peacefully floating in the back country.

nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 dx @ 12mm, 1/20, f/16, circular polarizer, supremely beautiful water