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Nikon and The Brevard Nature Alliance present the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival Brevard Community College, Titusville Campus 1311 North U.S. Highway 1, Titusville January 23 - 28, 2008 -- Titusville, Florida A celebration of birds and wildlife. |
It's been said that to be rooted is perhaps the most deeply felt, and yet least understood need of the human soul.
Florida, of course, is a place that knows well the rootless soul. Ours is a world-famous peninsula; a great, big siren in the sun whose considerable allure attracts a ceaseless stream of transplants. Some take the time to get to know the subtle and sensuous side of Florida. Many don't, and there's a price to be paid for this disconnect. You can no more love a place you don't know any more than you can love a person you don't know.
I believe the world is well served by having people stay put long enough to truly know and love and appreciate their place on the planet. And Florida, where it seems that everyone has come from someplace else, is the place for me.
Aerial Ballet
After The Rains
Hurrican Season 2004
Beauty and the Beach
Dance of the Cranes
In the Beginning
Paradise Found
The Secret Beach
Sun BirdClick on a thumbnail to go to the gallery for enlargements.There are those who think of Florida as dull, a landscape somehow lacking. If mountains and waterfalls are what you seek, see your travel agent. My pictures speak of a place steeped in blackwater swamps and rivers, populated by egrets and alligators. The beauty of natural Florida is rich and potent, if you know where and when to go looking.
The world sees Florida as a place of crowded beaches and theme parks geared to accommodate the recreational needs of 18 million residents and a relentless stream of visitors. These are the places I avoid in my search for the real Florida.
I often wonder what Florida must have looked like 400 years ago. It's a mindset that serves me well as I become lost in a viewfinder fantasy.
Imagine for a moment the Florida of our forebears, the land of La Florida explored by Ponce de Leon in his fabled search for the Fountain of Youth. Imagine the incredible sights that greeted Hernando de Soto, seeker of gold, and Pedro Menendez, founder of St. Augustine.
With limited tools and limitless resolve, these early strangers in Paradise pushed forth into the interior wilderness of the peninsula in what surely was a remarkable odyssey of discovery.
Four hundred years later, real wilderness has all but vanished in Florida. And so, like the species displaced by development, I have learned to adapt. I have adapted by creating pictures that suggest the illusion of wilderness. Carefully composing my photos, I seek a Florida without billboards and sprawl, devoid of litter and cell phone towers. I have made many of my best pictures literally within sight of my car, aware of my own impact on the land, and mindful too of the myth of untainted nature I promote with my camera.
Sponsored by
Wide range of superior traditional opticsBut all is not lost. Despite an astonishing assault on the aesthetic and ecological integrity of Florida, ours is a state yet rich in the abundant gifts of nature. In wonder and in gratitude, this is the vision of Florida that I seek.
2008 Festival Articles
2008 Keynote Speakers
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