Tag: landscape

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Beautiful red Salicornia plants at St. Marks NWR

Next to the Lighthouse at St Marks NWR is an elevated observation deck that looks over the marshes to the southeast.

At high tide pools of water and marsh grasses are visible and at low tide large sections of sand are seen.

At certain times of the year, particularly in fall and winter, the sand appears to be red. I originally assumed it was red algae but I later discovered color is mostly from a salt loving succulent known as Salicornia (aka glasswort).

Continue reading “Beautiful red Salicornia plants at St. Marks NWR”
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Planning for Milky Way photography

Capturing good pictures of the Milky Way in Florida can be quite a challenge. Rain, clouds, fog, insects, and bright moonlight are a part of life here. Did I mention snakes? Alligators? Lighthouse ghosts? “Area X”?

This year I had made several attempts to frame good shots with the bright galactic core near terrestrial objects, without much success. As the season progresses the Milky Way gradually moves to the west and the galactic core moves to the south. With the passing of the autumnal equinox in September, it looked like I would not get good images this year.
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Beautiful Marsh Grasses

This year for National Public Lands day I did a photo shoot along St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge road 129 which is the levee separating Stoney Bayou 1 from Mounds pool 1. The view from the levee toward Lighthouse Road can be quite beautiful and I was very pleased with the day’s photos.

The marsh grasses at the refuge are particularly attractive this time of year, and a few clouds appeared to add a bit of drama to the scene.

The marshes were so beautiful I went back a few days later with my mountain bike to ride out to East Stoney Bayou pool which has some really great vistas. It is so remote, the lighthouse appears as a white dot in the distance. I think of this area as “the outback.”

Getting there is a bit of a challenge since some levee washouts from Hurricane Michael still remain, and a fallen tree blocks the alternate access from the primitive walking trail. Access is still possible on foot, horse, or with a sturdy bicycle.

If you can get there, it is well worth the journey!

These are my favorite images from the two visits:

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The hurricane, mountain bike, and flamingo

I was fortunate enough to be the first person to see and photograph a wild American Flamingo at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge on October 31, 2018. This was the first verified sighting of a flamingo at the St. Marks Refuge since 1995.

It was by serendipity, that a hurricane, a mountain bike, and a flamingo combined to enable this sighting. By happy coincidence, it was on the anniversary of the establishment of the Refuge (Halloween 1931)!
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Moonlight and lightning

The night is a wonderful time to take photographs. I particularly love to take shots of the Milky Way, lightning storms, and moonlit landscapes.

Moonlight is simply sunlight bounced off the gray moon and it has the same color balance as sunlight. Moonlight photographs look very much like daylight images except you can see stars and any source of artificial light appears to be very bright.
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Clouds and patchy sunlight over a salt marsh at St. Marks NWR

A few days ago Chantal and I were at the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge as some dark storm clouds passed to our west.  The dark clouds formed a beautiful backdrop to the Cedar Point Trail salt marsh. The sun was low in the sky and illuminated parts of the marsh creating a great photo opportunity.

We were also treated to the sight of several sea squirts shooting impressive streams water into the air.  Perhaps they were warming up for the 4th of July celebration the next day.

The image of the sea squirts was extracted from a video I shot so it is not the same quality as the images from my Pentax DSLR.

I hope you enjoy these images!

Jim

(Click to enlarge)

 

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Beautiful Winter sunsets 2015-2016

In a previous post I wrote of the beauty of Winter sunsets at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. It is now a year later and I want to share with you some of this season’s beautiful sunsets.

The images were taken mostly at St. Marks NWR and a few other Florida panhandle locations. I’ll update this post as I get more images.

The best time to go hunting for Winter sunsets is right after a weather front has passed and the air is still activated.

I hope you like them!

More sunset images can be seen on our sunset gallery

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Photo Journal St. Marks NWR 10/11/2014

October 11 was a busy day at the St Marks National Wildlife Refuge. It was the first day of National Wildlife Refuge week and no admission fee was required.

The “Big Sit” bird count was taking place at the Lighthouse observation deck so there were quite a few birders and photographers around.

I started my day’s photo journal with a photo of two kayaks taken from Ranger John’s bench. Since the wildflowers were in bloom with pollinators everywhere I decided to spend much of my time on the levee trails. Continue reading “Photo Journal St. Marks NWR 10/11/2014”

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The witness may approach the bench

In addition to the great wildlife St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge offers amazing landscapes and vistas. During the summer the lucky visitor may get to witness one of nature’s spectacles, a summer thunderstorm.

A few days ago my wife and I were preparing to leave after a day on the refuge when we noticed a developing thunderstorm. We were at the lighthouse which happens to be one of the best locations for watching and photographing approaching storms. Continue reading “The witness may approach the bench”

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Beautiful winter sunsets

I love the sunsets of summer here in Florida, but I have to admit that winter sunsets have a very special beauty.

The sunsets from December to February can be quite remarkable with their vivid red colors and unusual cloud formations. I have noticed that some of my best sunset photos are taken around Christmas to New Years.

Just after Christmas (December 27, 2014)  my wife and I were finishing up our day at the St. Marks Lighthouse when I noticed the clouds and sky were forming up to give a particularly beautiful sunset.
Continue reading “Beautiful winter sunsets”

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