Fackahatchee, grass plains
I was on assignment, shooting for The Nature Conservancy when I took this shot. This is The Fackahatchee Strand State Preserve, located in the western edge of the Everglades in south Florida. We started shooting on the west end of the Everglades and worked our way through to the eastern side of the park. This area is a truly beautiful part of the park. You will find a great variety of ecosystems and habitats here as well as plenty of wildlife. My main goal during this trip was to try to get as many different landscapes of habitats as I could, weather permitting. I was in fact lucky to get this shot. The light was perfect, we had just the right amount of clouds, we were all set up and ready to go, then the smoke started to roll in from the east. A controlled burn was in full force and rolling our way. I took a couple of shots, packed up and got out of there before the fire got too close. You can see some of the smoke on the middle right of this image. We ended up back tracking for a while until the burn died down, so we could continue our travels east. This image ended up being the cover of The Nature Conservancy’s annual report that year. So I guess it was worth breathing in a little smoke to get a good shot for a good cause.
Eric Blackmore Photography 