Alligator Eye in the Marsh

Two old college friends of ours showed up in New Orleans on a road trip and talked me into going on a swamp tour with them. Considering Andrew’s original plan for his trip to NOLA was to take us noodlin’ (a very southern, redneck activity that involves sticking your hand in a swamp hole in hopes that a catfish will bite it), I was happy to compromise with a swamp tour. We originally planned on renting canoes, but the swamp was too thick with vegetation and the canoe service was closed, so we opted for an airboat tour.

Airboat tour in Lafitte, LA

It was raining, as it has been for days now, but I was determined to seize the opportunity to capture some gators in their natural habitat. I brought my camera gear, put the raincoat protective coating on my camera bag and placed it in a garbage bag. I also fashioned a garbage back into a raincoat as they were out of panchos.

Lady GaGa style

The airboat actually moves pretty fast and is very loud. We had to protect our ears with earmuffs and I held my camera tight to protect it from splashing water.

Airboats on the Move

At first we couldn’t find any alligators, but the scenery was very unique and it was fun to see it from the water. We also so a lot of cool birds, fish and dragonflies.

Swamp Tour Scenery

Egret – the location where the alligators lay their eggs

Spanish Moss- used for thread and mattress stuffing during the Civil War

Finally we began to find alligators and suddenly they were everywhere, though mostly smaller ones.

Friendly Alligator- my friend compared them to dogs because they would come right up to the boat, as long as the tour guide fed them marshmallows.

Alligator Treat

Farm Alligator

The above picture shows a farm alligator. It can be differentiated because there are notches taken out of its tail. They are often returned to the wild at about this size. The alligators used to be endangered, but now they are back to being over-populated. This means that they can be hunted again, as they are in this very swamp. There are about 5 million alligators in the world, and 2 million of them are in Louisiana.

Up Close and Personal

The price for alligator meat has gone down recently, to $6 per foot, causing alligator hunters to offer swamp tours to support their livelihood. Their trapping system avoids the little alligators, capturing the large ones with a hook in their stomach until they are picked up the next day and shot in the head. The guide told us they are killed quickly this way, but he failed to address the fact that the alligator had been hanging out with a hook in it’s stomach for 24 hours. I expected the tour to be more of a wildlife reserve, but apparently it is just private property and anything that is legal in Louisiana goes.

Alligator on a Log- It is rare to seem them out of water, but it gives you a better idea of the size of the animal.

Hanging Out

My swamp tour partners- John and Andrew

As hick as the bayou of Louisiana is, there is something romantic about it, perhaps because it is such a different world. It is a wonderful place to photograph. I still want to do some kind of longterm story about it, but I need to find a unique approach. Perhaps I have just been looking at a lot of National Geographic photos lately, many of them wildlife photos, on my new ipad app, but experiences like this make me want to be a wildlife photographer. In the end, however, I know it takes a lot more patience than I have.

More often than not, flash is not your friend. It should be avoided when possible. Many subjects are much more interesting when the available light is used to your advantage. For instance, in this photo, the different colored lights and the shapes they are making are what gives the photos its appeal. Mind you, there is not much to this photo. It is a simple snapshot of a club I took on my little point-and-shoot camera, but it is still more interesting than it would have been with flash. When used improperly, flash flattens your picture and makes your subject look completely lifeless.

Fireworks are another subject matter that is very important to not blast with a flash- your entire subject is light, after all. In honor of one of my original purposes for this blog, I brought my good camera out to our 4th of July celebrations on our friends roof. I did not bring a flash with me.

I liked the golden hue from the sunglasses in this photo even though it is a cliche idea. I also like the maze-looking shapes in the background.

And of course the fireworks are the crowning jewel of the holiday. I was a bit disappointed in my results, as I think I could have pushed myself to do something more interesting. Nonetheless, here are the results…

I really like the way this photographer captured fireworks in this old photo taken for the Longmont Times-Call, where I used to work, in 1979. I should have tried a time-release photo. Next year…

Happy Independence Day everyone.