My Newest Love - The Great Smoky Mountains - Part 1

 "After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on–have found that none of these satisfy, or permanently wear–what remains? Nature remains. " –WALT WHITMAN

To some folks there is only one love. To others, there are many.  For me,  I've always had a driving passion for the wilderness.  Living here in South Florida, it is easy to understand how my first love has been and continues to be Everglades National Park.  As a photographer,  my passion for the park grew stronger after seeing the work of Clyde Butcher (B&W Landscapes) and Art Morris (avian), and I've been headed out there now most frequently.  My passion took on a different course one day when I saw a post on a photographer site back in the days before Flickr of images from Arches National Park and the Wave in Coyote Buttes South in Utah and Arizona, respectively.  I made a note to myself that I had to see these sites with my own eyes.  I made it to the Southwest US for the first time in Spring 2007 and immediately fell in love with the Landscape, having seen and photographed the Nevada Desert, Zion, Bryce, and Page, Az. I vowed to return, which I did.  In 2008 and 2009,  I managed to visit Death Valley National Park,  Red Rock Canyon Nat. Mon. in Nevada, Sedona, Flagstaff, and the crown jewel,  Grand Canyon National Park.  The Grand Canyon was so amazing, I visited it twice in 2009.  But what truly was an amazing experience for me was finally seeing the Wave in February 2008 and Arches & Canyonlands National Park in February 2009. To this day, those have been some of the most amazing landscapes I have ever seen and of course I've vowed to return.  

Now in the Fall of 2009,  while on a family trip, I discovered a treasure much closer to home; totally different from the southwest. Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.  Seeing the lush mountains and forests and waterfalls in Autumn stroke a new chord in me.  But,  this new love for the mountains of Appalachia did not come to full fruition until I decided to stay in the car and spend 10 days in the Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains.  You cannot compare it to the landscapes of the Southwest, because it is not the Southwest. It is a different state of mind, but beautiful nonetheless. As you head west down the interstate in North Carolina and you start to see the landscape change, with the mountain range in front of you, you realize you're not in the flat boring east coast anymore. 

Arriving in Cherokee, NC and entering the park via US-441 is like a trip through Eden.  Lush rich forests, rivers, streams all intertwined between the mountain road. And when you find a place to stop, and you head down to the river or an overlook of the landscape,  you see wilderness and the beauty of lines and curves formed by the mountainous landscape outlined by summer wildflowers.

Going down to the side of the rushing river and stream and hearing nothing but the sound of the rushing waters and it was pure love for me.  I truly hate civilization.  Our modern day civilization is nothing but a cacophony of noise, violence, pollution, hatred. Being in the National Parks and especially in the Smokies is an oasis away from man's cesspool.  You breathe clean air and most of all, you get away from the sound of man.  I cannot tell you how much I appreciate quiet. Just hearing the sounds of the earth and of nature.  While photographing these streams under the canopy of the lush green forests, I could see eastern bluebirds all around me. Not something we tend to see in South Florida.  In fact, there was no shortage of songbirds all around me in the hills of Tennessee and North Carolina. I have found my new place to get away from the world. It wasn't the desert. But it truly is another corner of Heaven.

All images © 2010 by Michael Pancier Photography

TO BE CONTINUED

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A Philosophy to Live By

 Great Smoky Mountain National Park

© 2010 Michael Pancier Photography

Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am. A reluctant enthusiast and part-time crusader. A half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the West. It is even more important to enjoy it while you can, while it’s still there. So get out there, hunt, fish, mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the Griz, climb a mountain, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and elusive air. Sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness of the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves. Keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive. And I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound people with their hearts in safe deposit boxes and their eyes hypnotized by their desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards. –EDWARD ABBEY

Word!

Are You Ready for Some Dolphin's Football?

Spent the day yesterday at the 2010 Miami Dolphin Training Camp.  I can't believe another year has gone by already so fast.  This time I took my camera and a telephoto zoom (took a 75-300 in that they did not allow lenses larger than 8" in to the practice).  I almost was not allowed to use it until I showed the guy there that the reason it looked larger was the lens hood. So he told me to take pics without the lens hood so the coaches would not get upset.  I obliged.  In any event,  I got some really cool pictures this time and is probably one of the few times I can get this close to NFL players without a press pass.

I put together this video slideshow of some of my favorite shots I got there yesterday afternoon in the 95+ degree heat in Davie, Florida.

If you'd like to see the pics in more detail you can see them here at my Miami Dolphins Flickr set.

So are you ready for some football? 

When you're done, please visit my website or my new Facebook Fan Page to see my latest stuff.

Fourth of July Celebration in Downtown Miami

Great fireworks show in Downtown Miami last night, (or a few hours ago to be more accurate).  The storms cleared up and the temps were about 17 degrees cooler (low 80's).  A perfect night to enjoy the fireworks on this Nation's Independence Day.  I was perturbed that the area we've all known for years as the best angle to shoot the skyline and fireworks, under the MacArthur Causeway was fenced off and the entrance roadblocked.  So I had to shoot alongside others from across the Port of Miami.

Not too bad an angle, except you cannot see the entire Bank of America building which was decked out in Red, White, & Blue.  The breeze came in from the East which blew the smoke towards the buildings (and eventually towards the City).  Last year there was no breeze and the smoke simply covered up the skyline.  By the time I left, and it took me an hour to get off of Watson Island and back in Hialeah,  Miami Dade County from Downtown to North Dade to Hialeah was covered in smoke which originated from the various fireworks displays.

Anyways,  hope you all had a good time. At least I didn't have a camera malfunction like I did last year. Got some decent pics and had a swell time.

See you out in the field folks.

Please visit my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com or
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Wilderness

Coal Mine Canyon - Tuba City, Az

© 2009 Michael Pancier Photography

"Wilderness. The word itself is music.

 * * *

"Wilderness, wilderness . . . We scarcely know what we mean by the term, though the sound of it draws all whose nerves and emotions have not yet been irreparably stunned, deadened, numbed by the caterwauling of commerce, the sweating scramble for profit and domination.

* * *

"But the love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need--if only we had the eyes to see. Original sin, the true original sin, is the blind destruction for the sake of greed of this natural paradise which lies all around us--if only we were worthy of it."

-- Edward Abbey - Desert Solitaire

Abbey nailed it on the head. There's nothing more invigorating than being in the wilderness, and especially in the desert.  The wilderness will cleanse your soul.  There are so many folks out there without souls or with souls consumed with hate and vengeance.  There are folks that put on a front but truly are driven by dark forces who get gratification from the misery of others and from hurting others. These folks are empty inside.  These folks have never been to the wilderness and would probably show disdain for it because of the lack of human elements.  These people are not living, for they are truly dead in their spirit. Go to the wilderness and be reborn is what I say to them.  Stop dwelling on your misery and hate and petty vicissitudes.  Go to the wilderness and perhaps you will be at peace as I am when I walk in the desert, the Everglades, or the mountains.

Please visit my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com or
my Facebook Page - Nature and Fine Art Prints by Michael Pancier

Visions of Arizona - The Grand Canyon State

Happy Father's Day. It's day 62 and the oil still gushes. Let's escape to the desert and the beauties of the Arizona landscape.  It took me hours to reduce hours of raw footage and images into this 10 minute presentation.   In this video you will see the Grand Canyon, Sedona, the Painted Desert, Page, the Navajo Nation and other wild places only visible in the different out of this world place called Arizona.

I think one day I'll settle there. There is no finer place.

Lighthouses - Slideshow

On day 60 of the oil spill, with no end in sight, I figure you can take your mind off the mess by enjoying some of my Lighthouse images taken in Florida, Georgia, and New England.  Looking forward to exploring some new lighthouses this summer along the Atlantic Coast. I hope the coast stays oil free. This is ridiculous.

Day 58: Enough Bullcrap....Just Plug the Friggin Well!

Folks, here's a view of one of the top ten beaches in the U.S.A., Cape Florida State Park. I took this image back in 1999.  Looks sweet doesn't it.  It still looks pretty good 11 years later.  But if that swill that has been spewing into the Gulf of Mexico makes its way into the Gulf Stream and ergo onto the east coast of the US,  this beach may end up covered in sludge. What a pity. This is the beach I grew up on. This is the beach of my youth. Of the 1970's.  Rediscovered post Andrew in the 1990's.

I pray to God that it stays pristine.  Enough talk folks. Fix it and clean it up. 58 days is much too long and it's clear that no one has a clue as to how to fix this. Pathetic!

Infrared Images of Maine

The Gulf of Mexico As First Seen by John Muir

How imperishable are all the impressions that ever vibrate one's life! We cannot forget anything. Memories may escape the action of will, may sleep a long time, but when stirred by the right influence, though that influence be light as a shadow, they flash into full stature and life with everything in place. For nineteen years my vision was bounded by forests, but to-day, emerging from a multitude of tropical plants, I beheld the Gulf of Mexico stretching away unbounded, except by the sky. What dreams and speculative matter for thought arose as I stood on the strand, gazing out on the burnished, treeless plain!

-- John Muir, A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf

We so need John Muir today.  The government and the oil companies are killing the Gulf through carelessness and greed.   I pray this scene won't be tarnished with oil. Taken at the Gulf Pier, Fort de Soto, Tierra Verde, Florida.

Yo Somebody, Plug The Damn Hole So Our Florida Beaches Can Stay Clean

Hillsboro Inlet - Pompano Beach Florida

© 2010 Michael Pancier Photography

Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend Folks. Enjoy our Florida Beaches and let's pray that they can stay oil free.

Sunset Doesn't Last All Evening ...

Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse at Dusk

© 2010 Michael Pancier Photography

"a mind can blow those clouds away..." -- George Harrison

A Sunrise Doesn't Last All Morning

All Things Must Pass ...

-- George Harrison

Image taken at Daytona Beach, Florida

© 2010 Michael Pancier Photography

Burrowing Owls of Broward County

This year I've been fortunate to find myself near some nesting grounds of some burrowing owls. Due to habitat destruction, finding burrowing owls in South Florida is a rarity. Typically, one has to go to places like Marco Island or Cape Coral to see these guys. Fortunately, there are many burrowing owl communities in Broward County living peacefully among the hustle and bustle. Here are some of the images of these beautiful little creatures.

Just one more candle and a trip around the Sun

Jupiter Rocks - Sunrise © 2009 Michael Pancier Photography

And so begins my next trip. All aboard .... next stop? Who knows ......

“All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much."

-- George Harrison

Happy Mother's Day Olga

Didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but I've decided to post now, what the heck. Here's an image of my mom that I located. It has to be from the 1980's or 1990's I would imagine.  My mom loved angels and in this photo, she looked like one.  She has been among them now for almost 2 years.  In her last interview given a few months before she passed, she said the following:

Pero siempre le digo a mi hijo una cosa, cuando tú caminas detrás de ti está Dios, pero detrás de Dios estoy yo, donde quiera que vayas. Ahí estamos las mamitas detrás de los hijos siempre, aunque no estemos presentes.

Her words say it all as far as I'm concerned.  So as I spend my last remaining hours of my most recent trip around the sun,  I know that not far behind, there she'll be watching over me as she did when I began my first trip around the sun.

Will This Florida Spoonbill Have a Pristine Nesting Area Next Month?

© 2010 by Michael A. Pancier

This roseate spoonbill was photographed a few weeks ago by yours truly in the Tampa Bay area. The spoonbill has been my favorite bird for as long as I have been a nature photographer.  These birds nest along the mangrove islands and shorelines all along Florida's Gulf Coast, the 10,000 Islands area, Florida Bay, the Everglades, just to mention a few.

Reports are that it's only a matter of time before the slick reaches the loop current which will then bring the oil through these sensitive areas and even to the touristy areas where humans, as opposed to wildlife, frequent.  These are the same areas where I fish for snook, redfish, trout, mackerel, permit, etc.  Folks don't realize how even the most mundane trash folks throw into the ocean can effect these birds and their habitat.  I saw out by these rookeries mardi gras beads in the mangroves that had washed up from the Gasparilla Pirate Fest many miles away.

These spoons have been making a comeback thanks in large part to the work of volunteers.  But if the coastline is soiled with oil,  those strides will be for naught.

I've volunteered as part of the National Audubon Society's efforts to mobilize people to help with bird rescue and beach cleanup should the oil make landfall in South Florida.  You can help to by clicking here and adding your name to the database. I hope and pray that this coastline can miraculously be spared.  This has been my best year photographing spoonbills. Hopefully, it won't be my last.

A Pristine Florida Beach - A Thing of the Past?

Folks, this is an image of Cape Sable in the Florida Everglades along Florida Bay.  It is one of the most beautiful pristine beaches in our state.  You can't there except by boat. There is no litter there and more importantly, no human elements such as people or development.  Folks that visit here are typically nature photographers, naturalists, outdoorsy folks, and fishermen.  The area is kept pristine and is only affected by nature.

One of the things I am looking to photograph throughout the state are pristine beaches.   There aren't that many of them simply because of human development.  But now,  these beaches may be no more if that Gulf Oil spill makes it's way into the Gulf Stream.  

This spill happened all because of folks cutting corners simply to save money.  Pure and simple.  If the slick reaches the beaches south of Cedar Key on the West Coast of Florida,  the Keys, and possibly the East Coast,  we can kiss the beaches goodbye.  There won't be anymore birds to photograph.  You won't be able to trust anything you catch out there (assuming there is anything left to catch out there) as the fragile reefs will be soiled and killed.  And these pristine beaches will be tarred with tar.  A lovely thought.  

Let's pray our most fragile shoreline, beaches, and reefs can be spared and may the wrath of God befall all of those who are at fault here.   I literally feel ill and will mourn should these beaches, shorebirds, and sea life which is innate to the Florida ecosystem should perish due to the greed and recklessness of others.

Seeing Your Folks In A Different Light

© 2010 by Michael A. Pancier

Since my mother died a little over a year ago,  I've been going through all her belongings including all of the photos that she had.   Many of the images were in albums and faded.  I learned of a company called Scancafe which will scan and restore anything you send them, whether it be negatives, prints, slides, or cardboard.  You simply put the pics or negatives in a zip lock and label them,  put everything n a box and send it to them.  They put them online and you only pay for the scans you want (provided it is at least 50% of the total images scanned).  You can learn more about the service on their website.  In any event, I finally got the proofs today available online, and damn the quality is amazing. Photos of my parents honeymoon from 1961 as vibrant as ever.  But what is even more wild is seeing your parents are young people.  In this image below,  my mom was in her mid 20's and my dad in his mid 30's.  They were young, healthy, thin, in love and enjoying themselves.  Seeing them in these photos makes you realize that in addition to being your mom and dad,  they were also regular people who probably thought and did the same or similar things that you did when you were in your 20's and 30's and without children.  It makes you realize that before your mom was "mom",  she was a young attractive woman and your dad before he was "dad" was a handsome young cool looking dude and not the parents we watched age throughout the years leading up to their eventual deaths. But here in this photograph,  their youth is captured and frozen for all time so I and my kids can enjoy. Once again, it is so important to take pictures of your parents, your family, your kids.  Save the images, scan them, for one day the pictures and the memories will be all you will have.  The above image was taken in Buenos Aires Argentina in March of 1960.

In any event, this service has restored some images that were 2x2 and stuck in the garage for over 10 years into very cool images.  Some of my negatives that I kept from the 1980's have been scanned and are sharp and vibrant as well. My goal is to try and scan everything worthwhile in my possession from the pre-digital days, especially my family pics that are fading fast so I can import them into Lightroom, catalog and tag them,  and create coffee table photo books which are archival and which will last for generations, so perhaps my kids can see what their grandparents and parents  looked like when they were young, wild, and free and in the end, seeing their parents as simply human.

The Gatorland Egrets

The Gatorland Egrets from Michael Pancier on Vimeo.

Starting with the Canon 5d Mark II,  most new DLSR's out today have HD video capability.  So now you can you shoot video with the same high quality lenses you use for still images.  This adds another facet for creativity especially for the nature photographer.  While I am out photographing avian behavior for still images, I can easily, switch my camera to video and shoot a live action video of the same behavior.
While I'm still a novice at the video thing, I am having fun which is what counts.

This video is a love story of two great egrets, Irwin and Candice.  The video includes still images and video of a shoot I did last Friday at the Gatorland Rookery in Orlando, Florida. It's spring, so love is in the air....

Enjoy

Olga Diaz Comes to America

I am really amazed by the Google historic newspaper archive. I was able to find the article published in the old Miami News in June 1958 when my mom, Olga Diaz, came to the United States as a winner in a flag design contest for the Festival of the Americas.  It's interesting reading what was in the news that day.  She ended up staying here (as it was too dangerous to return home) which in turn allowed her to bring everyone out when folks were no longer able to leave Cuba just a few years later.  The byline was the "Cuban Betsy Ross."  I'd love to get an actual copy of her picture here, but as this newspaper has been out of print for years,  I have no idea where to begin. 

If you click on the paper, you can read the articles.  My mom always got a kick seeing herself referred to as the "Latin Beauty" when I showed her a copy of this front page that I made in the 1980's while a college student from the microfilm archives. Remember microfilm?  It would be nice if all these old historic newspapers can be scanned and put online for all of us to see. It's kind of cool having a newspaper article documenting your mother's first trip to the United States.

Those Silly Birds

Short two minute video I made with my digital SLR and long lens while photographing spoonbills and reddish egrets (the red and white morph) on the west coast, plus a guess spot from a burrowing owl from Pembroke Pines, Florida.

Enjoy.

Spoonbill Slideshow

Driving Through Old Florida - Kenansville

 Heartbreak Hotel - Kenansville, Florida

© 2010 by Michael A. Pancier

It's really wild when you drive through parts of the state to find interesting ghost towns and towns that are virtually a shadow of what they were 80 years ago.  In my last post, I took some images from the old Florida ghost town called Pinecrest which  sits on what used to be the old Tamiami Trail in the middle of Big Cypress.  This past weekend, I discovered a similar town while driving along Canoe Creek Road in search for birds from Cypress Lake in St. Cloud onto the famous crossroads known to folks as Yeehaw Junction.   I got out of my car to take some photos of a swallowed-tail kite then I saw this old building called the Heartbreak Hotel, seen above and below, and I had to take a picture of it. 

© 2010 Michael A. Pancier

The place seemed like a working hotel, but it was closed. Upon turning around, I saw a historic looking bank and had to take a picture of that as well.

Kenansville, First State Bank

© 2010 Michael A. Pancier

So where the heck was I? I looked it up to learn I was in a near-ghost town called Kenansville, which has a population of less than 1000 with a majority of the folks being over 50. It's located on CR 523, (Canoe Creek Road) in Osceola County.  The place was named in 1914 after the wife of Florida pioneer, Henry Flagler and was a big cattle town with the old Florida Eastcoast Railroad running smack through the town. 

I also learned that the Heartbreak Hotel got its name, not from Elvis, but from being being a very out of the way place where people from nearby cities would sneak away for illicit love affairs. It supposedly is still a working hotel though it was closed when I was there.  I've found that legend has it that the Elvis hit was inspired by this hotel. Below is an image, not mine, of how the place looked in its heyday.

Image courtesy Florida State Archives.

At the end of the drive heading south you will run smack into SR 60 and US 441 otherwise known as Yeehaw Junction.  Most folks only know of that place because of the Turnpike Exit with that name and the tourist traps there that try to sell you discount attraction tickets.  There is a historic place at that famous crossroad though, it's called the historic Desert Inn.

Desert Inn © 2010 by Michael A. Pancier

Of course, I wondered, why this dive in the middle of nowhere is famous.  Apparently, before there was a Turnpike and when these towns were booming,  according to town historians and several original newspaper articles that are displayed at the Desert Inn National Historical site, the town was originally named "Jackass Junction". This name was given to the four corner site back in the early 1930s, when local ranchers rode on burros to visit the Desert Inn (then the local brothel). 

The place looks like a real dive. I didn't have a chance to go inside, but I've since learned there are a bunch more historic and abandoned places there worth taking photos of so I'm going to have to go back and maybe then I'll actually order a beer in this place. 

  Image courtesy Florida State Archives

Just above, is an archival image I found on the Florida State Archives website showing what the old Railroad Depot used to look like.  The Turnpike and the elimination of the Railroad, made this area a pseudo ghost town.  As it stands though,  it's certainly a place worth exploring for photographic opportunities as well as it's an amazing drive through Central Florida especially if you stop along the big lakes in the area such as Three Lakes WMA,  Lake Kissimmee/Joe Overstreet Road, and Cypress Lake which are an amazing area if you are into wildlife and birds.

See you out in the field.

Ghost Town on the Tamiami Trail

Old Pinecrest Gas Station, Old Tamiami Trail

© 2010 by Michael A. Pancier

About a mile west of what is now Shark Valley lies the entrance to the Loop Road. A 30 mile drive into a pothole laden dirt road through Big Cypress National Preserve. The road used to be part of the original Tamiami Trail.  If you drive it now, besides gators, birds, rednecks and bugs, you'll run into the Pinecrest Ghostown.  In the 1920's Pinecrest was a kind of boom town with the opening of the Trail. Pioneers were gator hunters, loggers, farmers, bootleggers, and some just trying to get away from the law. The nearest law was at the county seat in Key West. Pinecrest, just across the county line from Dade county, was a perfect place for Al Capone's home, hotel, and brothel. When the Depression hit it had a devastating affect on Pinecrest. The hurricanes finished the rest off. Gone are many of the homes, school, and the Gator Hook Lodge (The lodge was located at the S curve on Loop Road.) The Gator Hook was a local watering hole and dance club that featured local celebrity Ervin Rouse. Rouse is famous for the musical hit "The Orange Blossom Special". The area was featured along with pictures in the August 1976 issue of National Geographic. 

 © 2010 Michael A. Pancier

Welcome to Hialeah - Pretty Prairie?

The city's name is most commonly attributed to Muskogee origin, "Haiyakpo" (prairie) and "hili" (pretty) combining in "Hialeah" to mean "pretty prairie".  There isn't much of a prairie left in the City, as nearly every inch has been developed.  It is an interesting place to photograph though.

I took this image this afternoon in infrared.  If you are coming from the east along Okeechobee Road,  you will be greeted with this arch as you enter the pretty prairie. It is kind of an oasis in a sense between the residences of the City and the scrap yards and factories.  Frankly, this City offers so much to photograph if you take the time to explore.

Bald Eagle Video

First Day of Spring 2010

Bald Eagle Airborne - Western Broward County, Florida

© 2010 by Michael Pancier Photography

"A very great vision is needed and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the sky."   -- Crazy Horse, Sioux Chief

www.michaelpancierphotography.com

Images of Arches & Canyonlands National Parks

It's been over a year, but I finally got around to editing my video from my 2009 trip to Moab, Utah.  This video is a 10 minute montage of video, photographs, and Native American sounds, (well not all the sounds, but most of it).

I would like to thank local Moab photographer and guide Bret Edge for taking me out to some of these locations.  Some of them were only accessible by 4x4, and it's scary driving down some of these steep canyons.

Enjoy the views of this surreal world.

If you wish to view the video in wide screen, click here.

Some of the images here are available at:

www.michaelpancierphotography.com

Birds of Florida - Video by Michael Pancier

Video of some of Florida's birds shot in the Everglades, Big Cypress, Wakodahatchee Wetlands, and Gatorland.

Photography and video © 2010 by Michael A. Pancier

An Evening with the Parrotheads

The Eagle & The Hawk

I am the eagle, I live in high country
In rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky
I am the hawk and there's blood on my feathers
But time is still turning they soon will be dry
And all of those who see me, all who believe in me
Share in the freedom I feel when I fly

Come dance with the west wind and touch on the mountain tops
Sail oer the canyons and up to the stars
And reach for the heavens and hope for the future
And all that we can be and not what we are
-- John Denver

Please visit my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

Words from the Wise

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." -- Albert Einstein

Please visit my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

Happy Valentine's Day - 2010

"Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties."
-- Jules Renard

More Words to Live By

Zion National Park © 2007 by Michael A. Pancier

“Don't Take Anything Personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.”

-- Don Miguel Ruiz, author of "The Four Agreements"

Driving Along the Trail

Some images across the Tamiami Trail as I headed home from an afternoon shooting in the Everglades.

Coopertown, Florida - Population 8

It is located about 20 miles west of Miami on US-41. Coopertown is famous for being the original air boat tour operators, beginning in the 1940s when tourists along the Tamiami Trail requested rides on airboats. Famous for serving Gator meat and frog legs.

Fresh or Frozen Froggie. Kermit would be appalled.

Another Tour Boat Stand Along the Way

All Images © 2010 by Michael Pancier Photography
All Rights Reserved

Where Does Discontent Start?

Image © 2003 by Michael A. Pancier, All Rights Reserved

"Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but you shiver. You are fed, yet hunger gnaws you. You have been loved, but your yearning wanders in new fields. And to prod all these there's time, the Bastard Time." -- John Steinbeck

Waves of Stone

The Wave - Coyote Buttes - Arizona
© 2008 by Michael A. Pancier

"Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.”

-- Saint Augustine

Hope & Focus

© 2008 by Michael A. Pancier

"I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe."
-- Dalai Lama

Images available at my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

Destiny is not a Matter of Chance

Image of Egmont Island Lighthouse © 2009 by Michael A. Pancier

"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
-- William Jennings Bryan

Please visit my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

Happiness Is a Butterfly

© 2009 Michael Pancier Photography

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."

-- Nathaniel Hawthorne

2010 is an exciting new year where all the negative energies and forces which had surrounded me have been exorcised. Fill your heart with nothing but love for those around you and happiness you will find. It will come to you like the butterfly. I said that.

Images available at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

The Spirit in the Sky

Red Shouldered Hawk © 2010 by Michael Pancier Photography

"It is the general belief of the Indians that after a man dies his spirit is somewhere on the earth or in the sky, we do not know exactly where, but we are sure that his spirit still lives. . . . So it is with WakanTanka. We believe that he is everywhere, yet he is to us as the spirits of our friends, whose voices we can not hear."

-- Chased-by-Bears, Santee-Yanktonai Sioux

The Open Road

Sunshine Skyway Bridge 12/31/09 - East Beach - Fort de Soto
© 2009 by Michael A. Pancier

"That is the road we all have to take - over the Bridge of Sighs into eternity."
-- Soren Kierkegaard

Please visit my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

Happy New Year - Welcome 2010

© 2009 by Michael A. Pancier
Please visit my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

Memories of My Mother Olga Diaz

Amazing how fast a year passes by. I can't believe it's been a year since I lost my mom. Believe it or not, I'm still organizing and going through her stuff today. I'm lucky that I have her music that I can listen to. Let's me know that she is still with me; as if she never left. Of course as long as we remember and love someone, they will always live on with you within you.

Christmas 2009

This was my first Christmas Eve and my first Christmas without my Mom. I'm sure she was there with me in spirit. I miss her physical presence, but her spiritual presence was with me today. Love carries on beyond the material world into the spiritual world. As long as we keep the ones we love in our heart, they will never die.

But now that the presents are wrapped and put together. The pork was cooked and eaten and as now everything is put away, the night is silent. And it is good. I think back to the beginning...

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'"

Luke 2:8-14

Photo of Everglades National Park
© 2009 by Michael Pancier Photography

Fill Yourself with the Light

"The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness."

"Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness.

"If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays."

Luke 11:34-36

Image taken at Fort Myers Beach, Florida
© 2009 Michael A. Pancier

Believe in the Light

Image of Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
© 2009 by Michael A. Pancier

www.michaelpancierphotography.com

"While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light."

- John 12:36

A Time to Pray

Inside the Chapel of the Holy Cross - Sedona, Arizona
© 2009 by Michael A. Pancier

Please visit my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

“There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God."
- Samuel 2:2

In God's Wildness...

Grand Canyon National Park © 2009 by Michael A. Pancier

Please visit my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

"In God's wildness lies the hope of the world - the great fresh unblighted, unredeemed wilderness. The galling harness of civilization drops off, and wounds heal ere we are aware." - John Muir

Sancte MÌchael Archangele,
defende nos in proelio contra nequÌtiam et insÌdias diaboli esto presÌdium.
Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecemur:
tuque, princeps milÌtie celestis, Satanam aliusque spÌritus malÌgnos, qui ad perditiunem animorum pervagantur in mundo, divÌna virtute, In infernum detrude. Amen.

God Knows

© 2009 by Michael A. Pancier
Please Visit My Website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

God knows there's a river,
God knows how to make it flow,
God knows you ain't gonna be taking
Nothing with you when you go.

God knows there's a purpose,
God knows there's a chance,
God knows you can rise above the darkest hour
Of any circumstance.

God knows there's a heaven,
God knows it's out of sight,
God knows we can get all the way from here to there
Even if we've got to walk a million miles by candlelight.

-- Bob Dylan

In Dark & Empty Skies

Great Egret © 2009 by Michael A. Pancier

Please visit my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

Oh, the tree of life is growing
Where the spirit never dies
And the bright light of salvation shines
In dark and empty skies
-- Bob Dylan

If Dogs Run Free

Image © 2007 by Michael Pancier Photography
visit my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

If dogs run free, then why not we
Across the swooping plain?
My ears hear a symphony
Of two mules, trains and rain.
The best is always yet to come,
That's what they explain to me.
Just do your thing, you'll be king,
If dogs run free.

If dogs run free, why not me
Across the swamp of time?
My mind weaves a symphony
And tapestry of rhyme.
Oh, winds which rush my tale to thee
So it may flow and be,
To each his own, it's all unknown,
If dogs run free.

If dogs run free, then what must be,
Must be, and that is all.
True love can make a blade of grass
Stand up straight and tall.
In harmony with the cosmic sea,
True love needs no company,
It can cure the soul, it can make it whole,
If dogs run free.

- Bob Dylan

Dawn of a New Age - December 2009

Castillo San Marco - St. Augustine, Florida

“In the dawn, armed with a burning patience, we shall enter the splendid Cities.”

-- Arthur Rimbaud