Tropicality

striped trunk and shadowed leaves, 2010

The humid and tropical weather in Chicago right now made me think about this photo shoot on a trip to the Florida Keys. These three new photos were taken at a small botanical gardens in the Keys. All have a slightly warm tone to them; I like the silvery glint that black and whites get with a warm filter. 

I'm still slowly going through the photos from this trip. I find that it is a process to reflect on what I have seen, the images I have captured, and try to come to some sort of understanding of them. I'm slowly coming to terms with the "tropicality" of the Keys and my experience there with nature. Life there is so different from the Midwest; these photos are just some glimpses into that difference.

fauna forest, 2010

twin fauna, 2010

Chevy Cat

"Chevy Cat" Key West 2010

I'm taking a short break from San Francisco photos and sharing a shot that I took in Key West earlier last year. I spent my trip to the Keys visiting some very good friends and trying to capture the wildlife, nature, and flora that were particular to the Keys. I'll probably share some of those photos too in this bog, but this is one of the shots from the trip that I most liked and it had absolutely nothing to do with the Keys! You can see some of the more tropical leaves around the back edges of the photo, but in the end this was really just about a cat who happened to be perfectly perched on a classic Chevy. It was a simple shot in terms of composition - I just tried to square it up and take advantage of the natural symmetry. It was a bit more difficult in terms of lighting and white balance as the car had a few highly reflective spots and the trees in the back of the car gave quite a bit of shade. In the end it worked out and Chevy Cat is now immortalized!