Brandon Holden Photography
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20 Days of Florida!
In late February of 2009, I finally broke down. I had no commitments and no reasons to not make my first long-distance road trip for photography! In 2 weeks I had everything ready to go, and on February 23rd, I drove away from home! I visited several locations, adding thousands of kilometers on my car to go along with the thousands of photos I was taking. Late on March 14th, I arrived back home in Ontario - where I wrote about my experiences! (sorry was that too cliche?)
Some trip factoids:
20 days away from home - 17.5 days of shooting! (Other days spent driving)
19,344 photos taken! -130gb
6347.7km driven (3944 miles)
Roughly $975 CAD spent ($750 USD) - everything from gas to food to entry fees!
Biggest expense was getting photos! (Entry fee's to Parks, Rookeries, Air-boat tour etc).
Number of Walmart parking lots I was kicked out of - 1
Number of chigger bites I got on my feet at the Everglades - Roughly 50 per foot
Number of nights sleep lost due to chigger bites itching - 1.5
Number of people who said "Wow that's a big camera!" - lots
Number of people who said "What are you doing?" - even more
Number of times I washed my hair in a 7/11 bathroom - 3
2 socks and 1 pair of sunglasses lost
Number of bikini model shoots I interrupted while chasing birds - 1 (long story)
Travel Plan and Route
The plan was simple - have no real plan! I slept in my car, which saves money and allows me to change locations at will. When it was all said and done, I had spent time photographing at 12 "main" locations, shown below:
B - St. Augustine Alligator Farm, Rookery
D- Fort De Soto
E - Fort Myers Beach, Little Estro Lagoon
G - Bunche Beach, Fort Myers Area
H - Tigertail Beach, Marco Island
I - Everglades National Park, Anhinga Trail
J - Everglades National Park, Flamingo Area
K - Green Cay Nature Center and Area
L - Kissimmee Swamp Tours, Snail Kites on an Airboat
M - Gatorland Rookery Again, 2 weeks later
Some notable areas I didn't visit include Honeymoon Island, Venice Rookery, Corkscrew Swamp, Ding Darling NWR, Sanibel Island, Viera Wetlands and Merritt Island NWR. Boy, that sounds like a whole trip in itself, doesn't it?
Birding?
I spent virtually no time "birding", but since I hadn't been seriously birding in the south before, I still managed to pick up a number of lifers! 14 to be exact. They were: Anhinga, Reddish Egret, Wood Stork, Roseate Spoonbill, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Swallow-tailed Kite, Snail Kite, Northern Bobwhite, Purple Gallinule, Limpkin, Snowy Plover, White-winged Dove, Common Ground Dove and Florida Scrub Jay! A Whooping Crane was also very exciting for me.
There were a few species I had only seen once or twice before, and it was very exciting to see them again! - Burrowing Owl, Crested Caracara, Mottled Duck, Chuck-wills-widow, Wilson's Plover, Sandwich Tern and Painted Bunting!
The Photos
Overall I had an amazing time. Lots of stories to tell to friends/family/girlfriend etc, and tons of images to share. The Below links are the species I photographed while away. Since there is 19000 images I now have to sort, it may take a while to activate all the links - but I'll keep working away at it! Some of the pages have photographs taken in Ontario, but anything labeled "Florida" was taken on this trip!
Cattle Egret |
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Red-shouldered Hawk |
Bald Eagle |
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Red-bellied Woodpecker |
Boat-tailed Grackle |
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Piping Plover |
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Marbled Godwit |
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Sandwich Tern |
Purple Gallinule |
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American |
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All photographs and content on this website are © Brandon Holden and cannot be used in any way without my permission!
If you are interested in purchasing any of the images you have seen on my website, please see my information on Image Purchase and Use. All photographs and content on this website are © Brandon Holden and cannot be used in any way without my permission.