As promised, this blog is about my recent trip to the Naples area, specifically Marco Island, and the area known as Southwest Florida. If you look at Florida on a map, it is that part on the left hand side of the bottom of the peninsula.  South of Marco Island, the land is almost entirely devoid of cities and people. There are more trees, swamps, gators, and birds at the right time of year, than anything else.

     October is not the right time of year for shooting birds, but the weather was nice--not too hot, certainly not as bad a mid-summer--with little rain. My brother did a great job of showing me the local sights, from a photographer's point of view.  We visited the Great Cypress Swamp, the studio of Clyde Butcher--the successor to Ansel Adams, and the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  We did not see many birds, but the walkways through the swamps gave us an opportunity to see a great variety of trees, airplants, orchids, meadows, and gators--lots of gators. Although Marco Island is on the Gulf of Mexico, we did not get there. Instead we went to an estuary near the gulf, Tiger Tail Beach, that had a fair number of birds, including herons and roseate spoonbills. 

  Shooting birds is its own art, and I will be the first to admit that it is not my forte--except for seagulls--there are lots of those at the Jersey Shore. Bird photography requires lots of big lens (which can be very heavy and expensive) and lots of patience--neither of which I have much of.  My brother has captured some great images of birds, but that is his forte.  He is also a Nikon shooter, and uses a D4--which has a very high burst rate. He shoots very fast--always over 1/1000 with a shallow depth of field. As a result he takes hundreds of images at any given outing, but keeps very few.

    We also visited several small towns in the area. This was more to my liking, as I enjoy seeing local architecture, homesteads, eateries and small stores.  I enjoying seeing how people decorate there dwellings, because so many are owned by snowbirds from all over the country. There is usually a cheap imitation fish or gator plastered someplace on a house or double-wide trailor, something to reflect local tastes or interests.

  Another thing we did while I was there was watch a ballroom dancing competition.  It was my first visit to such a venue. I found it fascinating for many reasons, but I will just comment on the photographic aspects. It was held in the ballroom of a large chain hotel in Naples and was well attended, with approximately a dozen couples dancing.  The lighting conditions were a challenge, especially as I did not have an external flash.  I handheld most of my shots. I was captivated by the fast pace of the dances, the vibrant colors and sequins and the swirls of the gowns, and the expressions on the faces of the dancers, both male and female. It was a lot like shoot the start of a sailboat race--you have to be ready and quick.  I captured a number of keepers and learned a lot. I'd welcome the chance to shot another competition.

   Anyway, my brother and I discussed doing the visit again next year, perhaps a month later in the season when there are more birds. I may even get another shot at the ballroom dancers! Stay tuned.