Taste of Heaven

Hot tea in the morning chill, a sliver of moon peeking through the cloud bank, dawn's crack... a taste of heaven.

Life can easily become too full of activity, commitments, and loose ends.  For Crystal and I, the antidote is to escape to nature - away from bustling sounds, bright lights, computers, phones, and lists.  So last weekend, after a week of dealing with post-wedding clean-up (our daughter, Lumin married a wonderful man from Wyoming), we stole away for a night to be bathed in the soothing balm of natural night sounds and light and beauty.  We have spent about a year adding bells and whistles to our new-ish jonboat to make it work for ... well, just about anything.  There is a large platform deck for photographing, napping, picnicking, even pitching a tent for camping.  And beneath is ample dry storage for keeping the relatively small boat tidy of all the gear needed to camp.  On the port gunwale, I designed a removable kayak rack so we can explore the smallest side creeks and skinniest shallows.  There's a swim platform on back, anchor wells, a dry, secure space in the console for a quick- reach camera.  And lots of smaller details.  (Thanks, Jeremy, for your skillful welding, and John, for your inspiration!)

But back to getting away from all this thinking and working.  We launched at Ochlockonee River State Park - a gem of a park at the junctions of the Ochlockonee, Sopchoppy, and Dead Rivers.  These rivers snake in and out of each other like a serpentine maze.  We idled slowly through the waterways to a remote  curve of the Sopchoppy and dropped anchor an hour before sunset.

 

That's guacamole thawing on the console - with crackers, wine, cheese, and tomato soup = dinner at sunset.

Peace.  No human-activity sounds. Calm.  I could feel my body's energy slow down, take a deep sigh, and synchronize with this place.  Ahhh!

A long night's sleep - one tends to go to bed early when there are no artificial lights to postpone the night.  The night was punctuated by circling moon and stars, splashing fish, and froggy sounds from the marsh.  A Good Night.  We were up to experience the awakening next-day.

 Sunlight wakens the day and birds begin to call.

 

Yoga on the tent deck.  Salute to the Sun doesn't need to be symbolic out here.

The magic red light fills the marsh briefly before the sun rises into the cloudy sky and the light goes flat.

The Sopchoppy River carves through marsh and palms, mirroring the cloudfront.

Spirits renewed, we return to port.

COCA Photofest 2010

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Now that I am printing more photos, I'm submitting entries to more shows.  One prestigious local show is the Tallahassee/Leon County Council on Culture and Arts' Photofest that shows at the Artport Gallery (TLH Regional Airport) every winter holiday season.  Two of my three entries were juried into this year's show as 12 by 18 inch framed prints.  The show runs from November 14th through Jan 7th, with the public reception event on November 18th.  If you are local, check it out.  Here are my two images showing in Photofest 2010.

Wakulla Springs Lodge -- Photo Doors

Four of my Wakulla Springs images grace a panel in four old cypress doors formerly used in the Lodge. My client, who has many fond memories of Wakulla Springs as a child, bought the doors years ago at an auction and recently built them into her new home as a wall in her foyer. The photos are printed on canvas and mounted over the single pine panel at the top of each door.  Originally the doors were painted, so, when stripped, the light yellow pine panels stood out oddly against the redder cypress - so she came up with the idea of adding the photos.  Cool idea! And well executed!

 She wanted images of the Lodge rather than wildlife.  Some of the images I made just for this project.  It re-opened my eyes to the beauty (and photogenic quality) of this historic building.

FLORIDA FOREVER 2011 CALENDARS for sale

   (click red text below to see larger version of cover image.)

David Moynahan's photo of Black Skimmers landing at sunrise at Mashes Sands graces the cover (and September) of this beautiful new calendar.  

The Florida Forever 2011 Conservation Photography Calendar measures 9-by-13 inches (32pp.) and is available locally in the Tallahassee area directly from David Moynahan (email: david@davidmoynahan.com) and at Native Nurseries. And for those needing to mail order it, contact the University Press of Florida (www.upf.com | 800.226.3822).  The cost is $15.

Excerpts from the press release by Legacy Institute of Nature and Culture (LINC): 

FLORIDA FOREVER has been preserving natural Florida for more than two decades. Yet more than a million acres of sensitive land and water are still in desperate need of protection. This year, Florida’s leading conservation photographers have joined forces to showcase what remains to be saved. The lenses of Chad Anderson, Clyde Butcher, Will Dickey, Laurie Meehan-Elmer, John Moran, David Moynahan, Judd Patterson, Jeff Ripple, Mac Stone, James Valentine, Carlton Ward Jr. and Eric Zamora, reveal stunning vistas, endangered shorelines, and forests that could all-too-easily be replaced by houses, shopping malls and asphalt parking lots.

The calendar was created by LINC.  The mission of Legacy Institute for Nature & Culture is to raise awareness for natural environments and cultural legacies, educate about important connections between human societies and natural ecosystems, and promote conservation of natural heritage.  For more information, visit www.LINC.us.

National Geographic Recognition!

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Bivalve From Space

I just started submitting photos the National Geographic.  (They allow one photo per month.)  And I learned today that this September photo - Bivalve from Space, the Alien Scallop, Scallop from Another Galaxy, or any number of possible titles - was chosen in the Daily Dozen for September-Week 4.  This means it may show up in an upcoming National Geographic Magazine.  To see it at the National Geographic website - 
click the Daily Dozen tab, then choose September-Week 4, starting here: http://ngm.nat...ionalgeographic.com/your-shot/daily-dozen

And to think it was a "failed test photo".

It "failed" because the settings for ambient light were way off.  The sea grass was supposed to show up softly in the background. But the underexposure combined with bright flash (in a bag underwater) and the flecks of silt that we had stirred up came together to make this extraterrestrial delight. Nothing was altered here (except the viewer's perception).

Loggerhead - Surviving Day One

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Little Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Walking along the Atlantic coast in Cocoa Beach a few days ago, I encountered a seagull standing in shallow water holding an odd looking crab in its bill.  In a moment, I recognized that the crab was a sea turtle hatchling.  Reflexly, I splashed toward the gull waving my hands, scaring it into the air.  My heart sank as it flew away with its prey.  BUT, in its hurry, it lost its grip and dropped the youngster into the shallows.  The gull and I both swooped for it. I won... and to my amazement held a tiny loggerhead sea turtle in my hands.  She appeared dead but without visible damage so I sat on the beach, cradled her in my palms, blew air on her and pleaded softly for her to revive.  The sun was rising over the Atlantic horizon. 

 












My imagination ran through what this little creature must have endured since digging out of her sandy nest sometime in the previous night.  Just crossing the beach is treacherous.

I once watched (from too far away) as a Great Blue Heron ate nearly every baby sea turtle in the nest as they came up out of the sand.  I ran, but by the time I got there, only one baby remained.






Ghost crabs who patrol these beaches, consider "turtlets" prized delicacies.
Gulls and osprey cruise the shore.

Lights from the condos, hotels and roads disorient turtle hatchlings and account for many deaths - the little ones stray up onto roads and yards where they dehydrate and die, are eaten or run over.  There are lights-out laws, but they are rarely enforced.

Only one in a thousand makes it to adulthood.
 (Check out http://research.myfwc.com/support/view_faqs.asp?id=16)

Hurricane Igor, way out near Bermuda, was sending big waves to this coast on this morning.  If the surfers had to fight their way beyond the break, how could a tiny floating sea turtle make it?  It was clearly a tough day to be born.

Loggerhead Hatchling

Then there was a wiggle, soon followed by flapping flippers.  The little loggerhead looked up at me.  I  set her gently on the sand and photographed her second journey to the sea.  Tired and timid at first, the tot got her rhythm and soon was running the gauntlet.


It was a thrill to see her launch into the shallow Atlantic wash, but then the first little shorebreak rolled up and dashed the turtle about before spitting her back onto the beach.  Looking defeated, she sat there for a bit, then tried again.  I imagined once more, the little turtle dodging crabs, being ejected time and again by the raging waves, and finally being snatched up by the sea gull.  Determined to give this one a better chance, I stripped to my bathing suit, scooped up the little loggerhead once more, and swam her out beyond the furthest break.  Now, I thought, all she has to do is cross a few miles of wild Atlantic waters to the relative safety and rich food supply of the weed line at the edge of  the Gulfstream.  I like to think she made it.

Sea Meets Shore to Little Eyes

Loggerhead Leaving

First Swim

Dashed

Spit Out

Over the next few mornings, I saw no more sea turtles... it is late in the hatching season.  There was one unhatched nest (too close to the water). But I did see birds and people and artsy angles on lovely sunrises.

Florida's Rocky Coast

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Who knew that right between the wide sandy beaches of Florida's Atlantic Coast there is a stretch of natural rocky shoreline. It is located at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park just south of St. Augustine. I visited there with a couple photo buddies during the last full moonrise and made these images in the late afternoon-into-night. Getting out of there after dark proved to be a bit complicated -- not to be repeated -- but the evening's beauty was well worth the ordeal.

Special Edition Duck Stamp Cachet

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Yesterday, I was invited to Memphis for the unveiling of a first-of-its-kind special edition Federal Duck Stamp cachet (envelope) which will be sold to collectors, conservationists, hunters, birders, and the general public ($25, $10 more than the standard duck stamp) to raise funds for additional land acquisition for National Wildlife Refuges along the Gulf Coast. Duck stamps have been a conservation tradition since 1934 -- many thousands are sold each year.

The press event was staged at Ducks Unlimited headquarters (the world's leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation) and included such VIPs as Ken Salazar, United States Secretary of the Interior, Evan Hirsche, President of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, and Rowan Gould, Acting Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

So why would David Moynahan, Conservation Photographer, be invited to such an event? Well, last week, I got a call from National Wildlife Service in Washington asking if one of my photographs from St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge could be used for this project. They had searched for the right photo of coastal wildlife refuge wetlands and found my image among the winners in a National Wildlife Refuge Association Photo Contest (click - here's what they found ).

Wow! I was happy to be able to contribute in yet another small way toward healing the Gulf and protecting her shores.

The project suddenly went into the fast lane... and on Monday, a flight and hotel were booked for me to attend the press release on Tuesday. It was a great honor to be thanked by Secretary Salazar and many others, and to meet the heads of federal agencies who are working relentlessly to help restore the Gulf -- a closeup view of our government in action.

And, for the day, I was a VIP too. Cool.


ps- The public can purchase the special edition Federal Duck Stamp cachet from the FWS's distributor at 1-800-852-4897 or at www.duckstamp.com.


Here is what the cachet looks like. The photo is printed on silk and set in an embossed gold frame.