Shooting with Friends

After a (partial) summer hiatus -- not shooting... chained to my messy office until it was back in order -- I was getting an itchy trigger finger.  So this month, I made a point to arrange a few short trips with photo buddies.  Here is some of what I came home with (besides a happier heart).

First, Bob Thompson and I made a couple early morning fieldtrips to Mashes Sands and the Apalachicola National Forest.  Inadequately prepared for the rain from the storms, I spent the first day dodging raindrops to get a few landscapes backdropped by great skies.

On my way home, I stopped at one of Wakulla County's most photographed sites -- an old junkyard along the highway.  My first visit, but I thought the rain might help me make a worthwhile photo. I rigged my umbrella with duct tape and made a few shots. Not my favorite cup of tea, but here's what I got.

Next day, with equal rain chance, I was better prepared to get wet.  And of course the sky was clear all morning. Bob knew of a small unnamed dirt road where he'd found some giant old live oaks.  Unfortunately, clear weather means dappled light.  This makes landscape shooting very challenging.  Right off, I saw a backlit grapeleaf rimmed with lovely water droplets.  That started me looking at the little things -- mushrooms, resurrection ferns, bark patterns -- which are easier to photograph under sunny skies.

Apalachicola has been calling, mostly through my friend, John Spohrer and his beautiful posts at Facebook.  He has just published an amazingly beautiful book of his photography. The time was right and John and Helen said, "Sure, come on."  Out well before sunrise, we visited several of John's favorite spots around Apalachicola.

On my way home, I stopped off in Tate's Hell to stalk some water lilies for a couple hours.

Not long after that, John Moran called to report he'd found an especially beautiful spring on the Suwannee.  He wanted to team up for another complex night shot. Turned out another photographer friend of ours from South Florida, Paul Marcellini, was in the area so he joined us on my boat for a couple days camping on the river.  Great fun. We made many studies for the composite night photo, but it is still in process.  A masterful piece it will be.  Worth the wait.  Paul made a beautiful daytime shot of the spring.  Check out his work if you haven't seen it. We visited several springs in the vicinity.  Here is a sampling of my shots from our adventures.

Royal Spring

Springwater flowing into Suwannee's tannic blackwater

John and I check out a cave in Blue Spring

The final night, John and I stayed over with friends who live near the Ichetucknee River.  To my astonishment, they lived on the "old Collins place" near Ft. Meade - once home to E. J. Watson.  Having just finished reading Peter Mathiessen's Shadow Country: A New Rendering of the Watson Legend, I felt the awe of stepping into history.  Didn't make many photos, but the old kitchen shack still sits in it's original location.

Next morning, we made a visit to the Ich, where John needed to re-make an identical photo he'd made 30 years earlier to show the changes in the river.  Shifting baselines fool us into thinking the river is as healthy as ever.  Old photos help to tell a different story.  While John worked on his project, I made this beauty shot at Devil's Den.  Still looks mighty pretty to me... but it's just one frozen lovely moment in time.

Happy wanderings to all.

Econfina Creek

Summertime is when I work on my archives, clean up and better organize files... and discover gems I mighthave inadvertently passed over.  This is an endless task, of course, but it has its rewards... like....

I came across photos from a magical morning paddle last year to some springs on Econfina Creek that I had not seen before.

On a cool clear April morning, John and I got up about 3:30 AM to make the two hour drive, launch our boats, and paddle downstream to the springs by about daybreak.  Mist was swirling over the water as the sun spread its golden fingers into the spring runs.  I was blown away.  How could I have lived in the FL panhandle for 30 years and never been here?!  Emerald Spring, Gainer Springs, McCormack Spring, and Pitts Spring all within an easy paddle from the Hwy 20 bridge.  Have a look...

All but Pitts are on private land and therefore only accessible by watercraft.  Pitts Spring appeared to have been "loved to death", with great swaths of algae and giant river frog tadpoles in the bowl, and overkill-state-construction-work paving and reshaping the surrounding park.  Not much natural left.

After a glorious morning of shooting, exploring, swimming, and napping, we returned to the truck and went in search of Gulf Coast Lupine.  This is a fairly rare and very localized wildflower that I had heard was in bloom not far from where we launched.  With detailed directions (Thanks Billy), we found the flowers along a roadside and made a few photos.

So, the drudgery of organizing files has its gifts...  reminders of near-forgotten  moments and places explored. 

Our springs are struggling now as Florida's population burgeons, overdrawing the groundwater and carelessly allowing far too many pollutants in our runoff.  How long until Emerald Spring looks like Pitts?  I must return there with my children soon.

Recent Visits West: Chipola and Apalachicola

Chipola Floodplain

Click on a photo for a larger view, then scroll through the photos as you like.  Return to the story by clicking outside the photo. I greatly appreciate all comments added below.  Enjoy!

When most people think "west", the Florida Panhandle does NOT come to mind. As (mainly) a Florida photographer based near Tallahassee, my recent jaunts west have taken me to a few of our state's spectacular river ecosystems.

Indian Pink

Tropical Storm Debby dumped 23 inches of rain in our yard over a 36 hour period this week, dramatically re-filling our drought-stricken rivers, wetlands, and aquifers.  So as I post these photos from "the dry times," I am reminded of the cycles and fluctuations of nature, realizing that the rivers, floodplains and tributaries depicted here are now overflowing.  

In the bigger picture, as our waters become progressively compromised by increasing demand, weakened protective laws and regulation, and added pollution, I recognize the preciousness and vulnerability of these pockets of beauty remaining in wilder parts of La Florida.

Florida Caverns

The spring-fed Chipola River is one of my favorite streams, starting near Marianna and flowing south to finally spill into the Apalachicola River down in Gulf County.  Near its origin, the river disappears into a cave system for a spell in the Florida Caverns State Park.  Here the Chipola is lined with otherworldly karst features, spectacular floodplains, creeks and springs, and beautiful wildflowers.  Crystal and I spent a couple days at Florida Caverns when the Indian Pinks were in full bloom, and left with a greater appreciation for the richness and diversity in the Park.

Oakleaf Hydrangea in Chipola Floodplain

Cavern of Colored Lights

Earlier in spring, John Moran and I paddled up "memory lane", revisiting  a stretch of the Chipola we camped on a couple years ago when we created sunrise images of "Mystic Springs."

"Mystic Springs"

I had recently been back to this spring and was aghast to find no flow, just a stagnant pool of murky slimy water.  We were returning to this spot to document the demise of the spring.  Along the way, I made a few images of the riverbank.

And we found one new spring run which we followed up to a small  lovely clear springhead.  Its water flowed bountifully over limestone shelves, creating ever-changing riffs of liquid light.

Paddling further upstream to "Mystic", we were surprised - AND RELIEVED, to find Mystic Spring flowing once more, apparently just very sensitive to the water table in the area.  I was thrilled to find the spring healthy, as I consider it to be one of Florida's finest secret spots.

DDay became night as we paddled back down to Peacock Bridge... a glorious night with Venus and a crescent moon.

Due east from there, the mighty Apalachicola River has some unusual topography and unique ecosystems in Florida.  I joined photo friends, Billy, Marcia, Bob, and Ted, as we bushwacked through the woods near Torreya State Park to explore steephead creeks that flow into the River.  Noted for their deep fern-lined ravines and clear shallow water winding along limestone beds, these creeks abound with intimate compositions.  I was enthralled. 

Hiking in the creekbed, I came to a section where the limestone walls towered over me and my pack brushed both sides nearly wedging me in.  Wow.  This is Florida!

Much further south, long after the Chipola has spilled its waters into the Apalachicola, the big river spreads broadly into marshlands, flowing into its estuary and bay at the Gulf of Mexico. Delivering clean freshwater so vital to the big sweet oysters that grow abundantly on the bars in the bay, one might not be aware that the headwaters of the Apalchicola up in Georgia are being extracted in ever-greater volume by ever-growing thirsty Atlanta.  With flow depleted, the oysters and fisheries way down here on the coast have suffered, especially in drought times, and one day may altogether collapse.  

For now, recreational and commercial fishing still thrive in the area.  Florida Fish and Wildlife maintains a number of landings in the Apalachicola WEA which  I was assigned to document in April. Some sites are simply boat ramps, while others have trails, viewing towers, and swimming holes.

Cash Creek

Gardner Landing

Sand Beach Tower - East Bay

In Eastpoint, the Apalachicola National Estuarine Center is a new nature center designed to help visitors understand and help preserve Florida's natural wetlands.  Being nearby, I stopped in for a delightful visit and came away with a photo of one cute little Striped Burrfish from nearby Apalachicola Bay.