A Week of Shadows and Light.

What an amazing week!  The image above was captured as the sun rose over the lake as I was paddling out toward my usual location.  I usually leave the launch point about an hour before sunrise, but I was a bit later than usual this particular morning.  You can’t really see it in the image above, but the lake had a thin layer of fog hovering over the surface.  It made for a beautiful sunrise, and I had to take a moment to capture it.

One of the best parts was paddling through an old Cypress forest just as the sun came up.  The golden light coming in horizontally through the Cypress trees as the sun rises adds to the ethereal beauty of this unspoiled location.  It’s as if the trees just decided one day to walk out into the water, and paddling through them is just surreal.

It’s a bit difficult to photograph while in the trees (I don’t use a flash in places like this), but on occasion I capture a moment where a bird appears in a beam of light, and I get a quick opportunity for a shot like the one below of a Limpkin grabbing breakfast. It would be tempting to crop in on the bird here, but to me the inclusion of the unspoiled forest just makes the shot.

Limpkin with breakfast ©Bob Blanchard

This Black Bellied Whistling Duck  below was just barely poking his head into the beam of light while perched in an old, Spanish moss covered cypress tree.  At sunrise, the Whistling Ducks were flying from tree to tree, making their unique call as they flew.  They seemed curious as they kept their distance, but didn’t fly off. The wildlife is plentiful, but the photo opportunities in the trees are few…but oh so worth it when you get one.

Black Bellied Whistling Duck. ©Bob Blanchard

Have a great week everyone, and a Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there

– Bob