Florida

For the past few years my wife and I have travelled to Florida during Easter vacations but won't be going this year. In late-October to early-November I shared photos of one trip to the hills out back and the series received much positive feedback from you, so I thought I'd do the same for one-day of photos in Citrus Park in southwest Florida.

I get on the go just before sunrise (around 7ish) and walk until around 10 or 11 making photos of everything that attracts my attention. I chose to share photos of a the first morning we were there in April 2004, a day that we also went to the beach. I took nearly 500 photos that day and over the next few days, will share images that show the variety of subjects that I photograph in Florida. The photos are in the order that I took them.

The first two images show a brown thrasher singing as the sun began to rise. At first I thought that it was a mockingbird, but when I saw the brown markings on its chest, knew it was a different species.

There is a pond at the end of the street our friends live on, and it is usually quite calm early in the morning. I have made photographs of the reeds and their reflections every year, yet no two images are the same. What is similar is the stillness, which I try to capture. The third image shows the pond as the sun begins to rise above the trees in the background. These photos have a calming effect and show the peace and quiet I feel every day as I start my early morning photo expedition.

The blackbird was looking for food along the edge of the pond in the early morning light.