Underwater environments offer exciting opportunities to create photographs; underwater environments covered in bright green duckweed far exceed the often hoped-for clear-water, bright-coral and plenty-of-light opportunities.

Recently I was at Manatee Springs in Chiefland, Florida. Catfish Hotel is a natural sink where water rushing through the underground aquifer eroded a circular hole in the ground. Duckweed, a naturally occurring tiny plant, covers the surface most of the time. I was hoping for a full-cover of duckweed and bright sunshine overhead for optimal shooting.

Alligators often enjoy floating in the still water of sink hole but luckily I didn't bump into any. I definitely kept my snake-sense awake so I could avoid potential territorial disputes with grumpy cottonmouths.

The two dives in Catfish provided great fun, especially when other divers stopped stirring up silt on the bottom (which tends to make me less-than happy to see them). Light beams came and went as clouds passed overhead. It took constant adjustment of f-stop and shutterspeed to capture the effects I envisioned.

After emerging after the second dive I believe some of the duckweed made it into a salad I had for lunch...even though it wasn't intentional. 

Daring to put ourselves into new shooting situations expands our skills and builds greater creative talent. Where have you shot lately that challenged you?

Happy shooting!

Castlerigg Stone Circle

Castlerigg Stone Circle Every time I went there to visit, but especially during those best-light events such as sunrise and sunset, there was always photographers present. Even when it was snowing and the road up to the circle was a bit slushy, there was one other crazy person that arrived at exactly the time I did and we shared the experience of capturing the snowy, cloudy circle cooperatively, staying out of each other's shots, commenting on the light.

Castlerigg Stone Circle Over the past 35 years as a photographer I have encountered two basic types of shooters. One is the very technically-oriented and settings-centered person. The other is a more right-brained approach. 

I remember shooting a magnificent autumn sunset with friends years ago. I was completely lost in light and color and heart-opening joy as the camera and I created lovely images. A friend walked up and asked what settings I was shooting. I looked at him like he was crazy. "What?" I asked. "I have no idea." My fingers know the f-stop and shutter speed settings without filtering through my brain and so they work in conjunction with my eyes and creative heart. I play when I shoot.

Both of us shoot manual exposure. He is a very solid photographer who produces beautiful images but we speak a completely different language when we're out in the field 'working.' There isn't a right or wrong way really. Each photographer develops her or his own way of arriving at a good photograph.

For me personally, it's an experience of connecting with the place or animal with my heart. Of surrendering myself to the moment and allowing the beauty of the encounter to touch me and create an inner shift so the spirit of place directs my work.

When I really allow myself to be immersed in the experience, I come away with much more than a photograph. 

Moral of the story? Keep a regular process of editing and updating images before committing them to an online presence. There's no need to load it unless the the images are good. A good rule of thumb: Have three places where your digital images are backed-up. An external hard drive, a cloud backup and your computer. Some folks even have a second external hard drive stored away from their home in  a safe place.

Eight years of photographs were not easy to sort through. I thought I had them catalogued well but found a lot of work needed to be done. Moral of the story? Edit...edit..edit and don't be afraid to toss photographs that aren't exactly what you wanted to capture. As your skills evolve you'll want to toss older photographs and as you get better images of your favorite subjects you'll want to delete the old ones. 

Yellow AsterGulf State Park Beauty

In addition, it is the primo month for wildflowers. This year we have fields of yellow asters in marshlands and other incredible blooms bursting forth. We may not get foliage color change here but our beautiful wildflowers gift us with amazing colors.

Yellow Aster 2Yellow Aster Take your fish eye, wide angle, macro or whatever lens calls you and go play among the flowers and along the shore. Most importantly, just get outside and enjoy nature's beauty.