Running all over the state this summer and fall, I sometimes forget to appreciate the hidden treasures of my local Orlando area.  After becoming exhausted from traveling all over the state, I moved Rocks Springs Run up my list of places to shoot. While it is true that many of the pristine open areas are gone, the rivers and swamps make you think your traveling through Florida 200 years ago, or maybe a Tarzan movie 60 years ago.  The run...

  Scoping the Tamiami Trail After visiting Sanibel Island in Captiva and Lover’s Key in Estero, Florida, I drove down the Tamiami trail for a day trip to visit the , as well as making a few spontaneous stops along back-country roads as I drove through the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve and the Big Cypress National Preserve. My goal here was scope out the area for a kayak trip I’m planning in January, but I did take a few...

During the summer of 2011, my main focus was on the rivers and waterways of Central Florida. With nearly all of Florida covered in thunderstorms during mid August, I darted out the house for some storm chasing along the beaches of southwest Florida. While rivers require a soft, subtle morning light, black and white beach photos look best during dramatic, ominous thunderstorms. Some old school photographers wait for the perfect shot in one location for days; instead, I choose to follow the perfect light across many locations, tracking weather systems from my mobile devices. During August 2011, traveling down southwest had perfect timing.

Since April 2011, I’ve been working on my documentary of the Florida’s rivers, swamps, and coastlines.  Perfecting the technique took several months, followed up by several months of shooting and traveling throughout the state of Florida, from the Gulf Island National Seashore in the Panhandle to the swamps of Big Cypress in South Florida.  The adventures and obsessive study of light, weather, and water were both exhausting...

Start of My Panhandle Tour For the Summer of 2011, I’ve been hard at work to develop my new ‘Florida 67′ series, canoeing and exploring Florida’s most unique waterways and ecosystems. At the end of June 2011, I spent 4 days in the Florida Panhandle, starting at Dead Lakes, then the St. Joseph Peninsula, onto the Gulf Island National Seashore, and with a quick stop at Torreya State Park on my way back to Orlando....

The Ecosystem of Myakka Myakka, as shown in the photos below, contains a vast assortment of dry prairies.  In the 1840s, American surveys declared the lands worthless, and unworthy of surveying.  Before much of its destruction, the Florida once contained nearly 300,000 acres of prairies.  These precious ecosystems were dug out to control flooding, along with planting of non-native grasses, plants, and trees that wreaked havoc on these...