outdoor photography

Since May, I've been doing a lot of hiking at the Little Big Econ State Forest. The area is one of my favorite places to hike, especially in Central Florida. You can see major portions of the Econ River as well as some of the St. John's River, and there's a beautiful mix of pine flatwoods, marshy flood plains, and everything in between. During the summer the only birds here are breeding birds that I've photographed many times before, so I decided to bring my macro lens with me and focus on flowers, insects and other wildlife. The culmination of these efforts is a vastly expanded catalog of photos with a much greater diversity of species. I decided to celebrate this with a video slide show focusing on all the tracts and trails of the State Forest and Wildlife Management Area. I hope you enjoy it.

Trail to Boonie Falls Last week I was on vacation at Deep Creek in Western Maryland, and in the mornings I would visit Swallow Falls State Park, which has some absolutely beautiful waterfalls. I came home to Florida wanting more, but, well, this is Florida.  I've known of a small falls along the Florida Trail in the Little Big Econ State Forest, but I've never gone to see it.  Those that have often joke about how small it is.  But I decided I had to go see for myself.  The waterfall is called Boonie Falls, and it can be accessed by parking in the grass next to Lockwood Blvd in Oviedo. There is hardly any signage, and so you have to know where it is in order to find it. But I made the half-mile walk to the falls. A Nice Little Pond You Can Almost See The walk out there was prettier than I anticipated. I arrived at 5:30pm, so the sun was still a little to high for photographing trees, but I took a few shots with my point and shoot anyway, just...