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| Pine Glades Lake |
I usually frequent Everglades National Park between November and May as this is the best time to photograph birds. Also, the heat isn't as bad and there aren't many mosquitoes. Come summer, there are very few birds in the park to photograph (unless you have a boat to go in Florida Bay or 10,000 Islands into the back country) and the bugs are relentless, so I tend to stay away. But if Everglades landscapes are what you are looking for, especially those afternoon images with thunderstorm clouds, summer is the best time. I went out to the Glades over Labor Day weekend with the intent on getting some evening star shots. I saw some work from a California photographer who did amazing time lapse images by combining multiple sky shots of the Milky Way. Here in South Florida, the only place where the sky is dark enough for dark sky photography is in Everglades National Park, more specifically, Mahogany Hammock. So that was the intent. Well, the weather was typical Labor Day weekend weather; thunderstorms and rain. So by the time I got out there, myself and two fellow photographers pretty much concluded that the night photography was a lost cause given the cloud cover, but some sunset/dusk shots were probably going to be pretty good given the clouds.
So we all met up at Pine Glades Lake which is a favorite location for shooting sunsets in the Everglades. As expected, the clouds were amazing. The water levels there were very high covering all the rocks we like to use for foreground anchors, but the water was so still, the reflections were amazing. The bugs? Well, they were out there. I always wear long sleeves and long pants when I'm out in the glades (and a hat of course), but I still sprayed myself with bug spray. It doesn't phase the horseflies though. They are immune to the stuff. But despite the bugs, it was a great afternoon to see a sunset in the Everglades especially with the thunderheads in the distance. No lightning, but hopefully I'll capture that next time. Hopefully when the next new moon comes, I'll try the sky shots again.
The above image is a 3 image HDR which I converted to B&W using Nik Silver Efx Pro.
See you out in the field.
See more of my images from Everglades National Park on my website at
www.michaelpancierphotography.com
