Caddo Once Again

 

Great Blue Heron, Caddo Lake, Uncertain, Texas

It is not what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in which we use it."...Theodore Roosevelt

OK, last Caddo today - I promise....If truth be told I am working on a gallery show of National Parks to include other locations that need to be mindfully looked after. This is not a new idea by any stretch of the imagination. Personally I discovered the National Parks late in life and wondered why this was never something we spent any time on in school...maybe I had to show up for school a few more times.

My first encounter with the Parks was about three years ago when I attended a workshop in Death Valley - since that time I have traveled to Yosemite, Zion, The Everglades, and, although they are not National Parks, Caddo Lake and Iceland. This summer I plan to return to Iceland (actually in 10 days) and sometime after that make a trek out west to visit a few more of these wonderful locations. Upon returning from that Death Valley workshop I watched the Ken Burn's documentary about our National Parks and that really hit home...How could someone get to be 64 and not know about these parks....

I am working on this project with several like-minded emerging photographers met along the photo trails in some of these very locations. The idea is a traveling show with a percentage of the income being donated to charity - have yet to figure out what charity but then we are still in the planning stages. The show will open on November 10th in Carmel, Indiana - stay tuned to these pages for more information.

Image Management:

Canon 5D II
70-200MM Lens
photoshop CS5
Lightroom 3

Caddo Reflection

Caddo Lake Reflection

Captured with a Canon 5DMKII, 24-105MM lens

Jefferson, Texas

Jefferson General Store, Jefferson, Texas

 After being rained out of Caddo Lake on Monday morning I spent part of the early afternoon with my buddy AL Hernandez looking for images in Jefferson, Texas.

Jefferson is quite the town - mostly antiques and collectibles. Originally founded in 1841 Jefferson was one of the most important port towns and at one point was the 6th largest city in Texas.

I had the best key lime pie in Jefferson on Monday - not to mention several decent photo opportunities.

Image above captured with a Canon 5DMKII, 85MM lens - uploaded to my blog from an airplane over West Virginia...

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron, Caddo Lake

 I am starting to get a bit excited about going back to Caddo Lake in early April. Not much gets better then cruising on a pontoon boat through the swamps looking for images. When you see something the motor gets shut down and you drift about waiting for the boat to settle down enough to get a decent shutter speed to counteract the movement of the water - no tripods out here.

I learned a good deal last time at Caddo Lake that I hope to put to use this next visit...Also need to mention the really good down-home BBQ just down the road.

PS: Sometimes a simple image will speak a great deal about a place -  Caddo Lake has an eerie calm about it........

This image captured with a Canon 5DMKII using a 70-200MM Lens

New Blog Header Image: Death Valley: Autostitch Panoramic captured in the iPhone4 - processed in the iPhone4

Caddo Lake

In November my buddy Al Hernandez and I decided to photograph Caddo Lake in Uncertain, Texas. Caddo is a huge mass of wetland on the border of Texas and Louisiana. We drove the 200 plus miles to lake from Dallas and chartered a boat to photograph the sunset and the following sunrise.

Sometime in the early 1900's oil was found under the lake, and, we all know what happened next - they built dams and starting drilling, doing much damage to the lake's ecosystem. Somewhere around 1930 the WPA established this lake as a State Park. The area has 200 species of trees, 100 grasses and woody vines, over 200 types of birds and large populations of fish, reptiles and mammals of which many of these species are considered endangered or rare.

Our plan is to make another trip back to the lake in the spring and then again in the fall of 2010 to  capture the lake in the various seasons.

Enjoy!!!