Over the Thanksgiving holiday I took some much needed time off. After a full summer and a busy start to our concert season along with weddings, portraits and other work, I was ready to unplug and get back to nature.
My go to place as I’ve posted in the past is in the Everglades. I love to camp and I took four full days to step out of the digital world and relax. I did do some posting to Facebook, but instead of worrying about my status, I took camera in hand and stepped out into the swamp.
Because of the cooler temperatures (great for camping), the alligators were in abundance along the road of Jane’s Scenic Drive in the Fakahatchee Strand, and on the trails my son and I walked, (check out his website: Phloridaphoto.us He even decided to get a bit more up close and personal with a gator lying on the path we were walking.
I stopped and photographed him, photographing the alligator. I just could not bring myself to be that close to something that large with huge teeth. As my son walked past him, Mr. Gator lifted his head and rumbled that deep throaty sound as a warning to let him know he may be a bit too close. I had the same experience as I hung out the car door to get a rather large alligator hanging out on the road we were driving.
We also went out two nights in a row to capture the Milky Way, however during the hours we were there, the sky have cloud cover in the general vicinity. We did capture the sky at night and this photograph shows Miami glowing in the distance as the International Space Station does a fly over (I have an app on my phone called Sky Guide that allows me to track this).
Overall it was a wonderful relaxing long weekend, with friends, family and my camera.