Florida’s nature is more than just white sand beaches.
Swallow-Tailed Kites travel thousands of miles from South America to nesting grounds here in Florida
Growing up, I spent most of my outdoors time at the beach or paddling in the mangroves and intracoastal waterways of Little Sarasota bay. Mostly because of accessibility, my perception of Florida was limited to the belief that the best parts of it were on the coastline. After 5 years living outside the state, I returned home with a newfound passion for wildlife photography and a desire to explore places that were off the radar to me growing up.
Florida’s wild lands extend in every direction of the state, and are filled with a seemingly endless multitude of landscapes. From the ancient sandhill ridges in the center of the state to the strand swamp forests in the everglades, there is little truth in Florida being only beaches.
Fueled with a desire to not take my home state’s wilderness for granted, I have spent a significant portion of my time exploring the state, traveling hundreds of miles to take day trips on the Lake Wales Ridge, facing the wild bison of Paynes Prairie, venturing through the Fakahatchee Strand swamp, and paddling beneath cypress trees on creeks I never knew existed.
As much awe and excitement as I feel on my trips out to the countless ‘middle of nowheres’, I also am hit with the sense that what I’m seeing likely won’t be there in the future. Florida’s wilderness faces a ceaseless onslaught of development and the only way that things will change is with a grassroots effort that starts with myself and all of us as individuals joining together.
It’s my hope that in sharing my photos and stories of time in the wilderness that we can all recognize the privilege we have to experience this beauty and build a desire to fight to save what we still can. Stick with me as I document my efforts to photograph Florida’s rarest species including the Florida Panther, Florida Black Bear, and other endangered creatures.