Festival of Lights - Stephen Foster State Park

Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park holds a Festival of Lights each year starting the first week-end in December, which we discovered three years ago. During a camping trip that October, all the volunteers we met told us we just had to see it, but getting a campsite that late would be nearly impossible. We managed to get a slot due to a cancellation, and now every year we book a site many months in advance. The festival attracts everyone within driving distance, and many of us who come from a longer distance and either camp or stay at the local bed and breakfast or hotel.

This year we saw several changes in the light sculptures, along with the old favorites. Festivities start each evening around 5 or 5:30 p.m as it starts to get dark. We usually start walking from the campground between 5:30 and 6 to get the best light for a few photographs. According to the volunteers, over 5 million lights shone this year. We usually walk around to see the lights, and then head toward the craft village area for hot chocolate, popcorn, music, and enjoying the craft demonstrations and exhibits. We went to the museum the first night at 6:30 to enjoy dulcimer music. People wandered in and out for a song or two, we stayed for several.

Below is a small sampling of the lights. Numerous displays dot the park grounds, with shooting stars and their tails sailing through trees, lighted angels, ornaments, and trees, and one of my favorites, the multi-color lolly pop "forest".

Changes in Nature Photography

On a recent hike I came across a frog sitting on a submerged log. I composed my first shot in a fairly straightforward manner: fill the frame with the subject, tack sharp focus, using the light to illuminate the entire frog. I took a few shots in the same manner, from different viewpoints. I liked this one best. The halo effect of the water around the head of the frog, and the horizontal line of the log leading to the head worked to make a good, straightforward nature shot.

I walked around checking out other angles, and noticed from one location the light bounced off the water, creating a shimmery, silvery, almost solid effect, with the exposed part of the frog's head the only part visible. I tried a few shots with different compositions from that location, and ended up with an interesting, and non-traditional, nature shot.

Nature photography, like all photography, evolves constantly. Once only professional photographers with the expensive cameras could get shots that a smart phone in the hands of almost everyone can get now. Take the time to really look for more creative ways to capture your subject.

Walking Through Brooker Creek Preserve Wetlands

The experience of an early morning walk along the boardwalk through the Brooker Creek Preserve wetland varies by the season. In late November, the pond cypress needles thin out, leaving the forested canopy open to the sky and natural light. A very wet summer, followed by a wet autumn kept the water levels higher, though they recede a bit each day now.

Photographing the landscape scene along the boardwalk always proves a challenge. Unlike the soaring mountains of the western states, or the rounding hills of the eastern states, Florida stretches out flat with numerous shades and intensities of green. After a recent course in art history, I find myself looking for the natural lines in each subject, where they originate and lead, and if they work for the image I want to make. I shot several scenes with that in mind, and the light worked with me. Reviewing my work later, I found several shots that worked, and one that captured the image exactly.

The slightly clearer line of water starts directly in front, and weaves back and out of the photograph guiding the eye along the banks. The trees along the edge are just barely reflected in the green covered water.

This scene makes the viewer wonder what remote part of the world is pictured here. That this beauty exists in the most densely populated county in Florida is amazing.