Taken at an open trunk in a dike. Fish were moving, and so were the Alligators. This is real competitive fishing.
The bigger the Alligator the closer they could get to the flowing water. Smaller Alligators held back, for obvious reasons.
And the last image is a ‘mistake’.
Wide shot with my foot. Basic 101…what not to do.
The standard South Carolina warning sign reads as follows ;
Alligators May Live Here
I even have a photo of it here, it is always bright yellow to be sure it can be seen.
You may also notice it is possible to walk across the water without getting your feet wet.
These large ‘stepping stones’ were discovering fish swimming through an open dike. In minutes the number tripled.
In a short amount of time I was able to shoot 6 feet (1.8 m) away from these large ones by standing on the wooden trunk.
As long as I stayed aware of the dirt bank on either side I had the perfect photography blind. None would climb the bank, the fish were down below.
Now I have 600 photographs to wade through.
Things were going smooth, I was shooting with a short portrait lens.
Suddenly, a fish showed up.
What do you do when the photographs color and highlights are just too good ? That’s a dilemma with some images of dawn here. Case in point below.
The photo above was cropped to fit a standard frame size and blacks were lightened to give the reeds some definition. The rest was provided for me.
Click, or double tap, any image to view the gallery.
We even got out 3 minutes early this morning. That’s a record.
The sun and colors were getting brighter through the tree canopy and when we hit an open marsh area sunrise had beaten us, again.
This is not where we planned to see dawn.
Obviously not a complaint, however I’m one of those people that like to have a plan.
It’s a good thing we live where there are plenty of marshes. We pulled over and walked up a small dike. Interesting color.
ACE Basin, South Carolina.
This is a photograph to be viewed as wide as possible. When you do consider that this is just what would fit in my viewfinder. On the left, on the right, an unknown number of white birds taking to the air.
Add to this ‘picture’ that it was early morning and I was alone, the only human for miles.
Sad, but some day this most likely will be gone. Please think about that the next time a politician wants to change environmental laws.
This is a pretty amazing sight. Me and a thousand Egrets. Not another human being for miles. Any sounds were drowned by a howling wind.
These Egrets were surrounded by marsh, getting much closer was not possible. Besides I really didn’t want to scare or intrude on their resting.
Click the image above to view full screen. This is a sight not seen often, if ever.
Too often I drive right through on this road in and out of the marshes. Today I stopped and got out.
Another ‘what I saw’.
