Left to my own devices

While most tourists to my part of the world tend to congregate at the beaches, there are so many other beautiful places to visit.

The perk for me when hiking at these lesser known Florida nature spots, is that I rarely have to share the trail with other people. That means I can do whatever I need to ‘get the shot.’ Which could be lying on my stomach, or back, to get just the right angle, or climbing over fences and on top of benches.

I’ll go off trail to capture a shaft of light shining through the canopy on a tiny spiderweb. It means using my hiking pole-slash-monopod to pull back brush to find an old rusted iron gate, or to hold my camera over my head for that full-view landscape.

It also means I can dance and sing along to the music on my MP3 player without worrying about being seen. There will, however; be no photographic evidence of that.

*Photos taken at Camp Helen State Park near Panama City, FL.

(Photos shot with a Nikon D60, using an 18-55mm, 55-200mm, 20mm f/2.8 wide-angle, 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, Nikon CoolPix S205 and/or iPhone4)

For more photos, please visit my Flickr photostream.