Thursday, May 29, 2008

Silver River Run

A former student of mine and I finally made good on our long standing "let's go take photos sometime" conversation ender. Sandy has a groovy little vintage Boston Whaler and he took me to the Silver River Run near Ocala, the river created by world famous Silver Springs - the river runs fast and deep, and is about as pristine as a place can be - the water is clear and cool, and home to lots of birds, fish, cypress trees and snakes  - "How do I know about the snakes" you ask? Well, I'm glad you mentioned that...Ever the nature photographer, I jumped into the water in an area where the bottom wasn't so deep, and edged up to a huge cypress tree, as I was interested in the textures and shapes of the root system. I had a super wide angle lens on my camera, and the best way to get crazy perspective shots is to get right up next to your subject - so I'm in water waist deep, slogging along the mixed sand/mud bottom - I can't move very fast because of the tricky footing and brisk current,  and I'm carrying a camera that isn't rated for water use(that means it's ruined if I fall in..).  I'm in the "get the shot" mode, paying no attention to my surroundings other than where to put my feet and camera for the best shot... so right when I'm getting up close to the roots, composing what I thought was a really cool shot, I see motion out of the corner of my eye, and a very large snake is about a foot from my head! Very luck for me that it wasn't a water moccasin, or I'd be writing this post posthumously, or at least from the hospital...The VLS (very large snake for all you non-texters) was as afraid of me as I was of it, and I was fortunate that it wasn't too upset that I had interrupted it's sunbathing time... I live to tell another story...The rest of the trip was gorgeous. (and I stayed in the boat too)...It was sooo cool to be in a place that looks pretty much the same as it did many thousands of years ago. I was reminded of Native Americans and how connected they were to the rivers, lakes, and swamps of North Florida. This large expanse of undeveloped wilderness is truly worth the visit. Go sometime!




 

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