Back out to Lake Okeechobee

Burning of the Sugar Cane Fields on route to Belle Glade.

Those closets to me know I have had an itch to get back out on Lake Okeechobee. My personal project of photographing Florida's native landscape has really transformed into a conservation vision. With all the efforts towards restoration and understanding the wisest steps to restorative flow, I believe that the coming years will focus more closely on the Lake. Perhaps, I speak too quickly without scientific ecological expertise, but I here goes: there was a 2 and half mile stretch of pond apple trees from the eastern section of the Lake at Port Mayaca west to Clewiston. The forest of pond apples existing as a natural filter for the Everglades as the water flowed through the Democratic River south and west down through Fisheating Creek in Lakeport and the Caloosahatchee River, which begins in Moore Haven. Let's restore the beltway!
My friend and native Floridian, Boots, has already been an active steward of his community and the Lake. I hope to join his efforts to help in the myriad of conservation action to preserve the Everglades. If we all do a small part within our communities, Florida can continue to grow and prosper.  

Here are some images:

The grass is tall on this section of the Lake. The trees are evidence of settlers  from the early part of the 20th Century.

Torry Island is in the distance. The smoke is from the burning of the sugarcane fields.

Sea Otter at rest. Many alligators wait for animals to drink at the shoreline. 

Ocean Landscapes Coming Into Being as a Portfolio

Gulf of Mexico #2, Captiva Island, Florida      Sarah Brown



Since the Gulf Oil Spill, I have retreated to the Atlantic and the Gulf  to remember all those wonderful childhood memories that I have growing up miles from the beach. For me, these two bodies of water are significant because they hold only good memories. One's of family together, of playtime, and of innocent times I had long forgotten. So, as my proofs of all kinds of Ocean Landscapes amass, I know it is time to create a final selection of images for final printing. This, my teacher self must say, is a very important part of the production. I believe our work begins a final transformation into being at this stage. On the occasion, some may just be discovering what the body of work is truly about. Freud would have a field day!
So from proofs to small prints to final prints can be a long process; art school allows for a faster (demanding) pace of production; the working artist may take longer partially out of maturity and patience and part out of time constraints from daily demands.

I will be sure to share some of my final image selections before I write more on final printing stages!

January News

Wow! I can not believe how fast this month seems to be flying by. Maybe the bustle of work in the studio is making me focus inward. I am excited about the electronics show in Vegas...and am looking forward to reading all the reviews. I am printing large prints of my still life work-Presence. Fotofusion, the annual PB Photographic Center's photography festival in WPB, is next week. So, I am happy to see colleagues and friends. This is really one of the few times a year so many great photographers are in one location. This year the Center is having mini-workshops that sound really fun. Be sure to check it out.

I am preparing for an exhibition, in March,  of my Lake Okeechobee work. Not only does this mean I get to speak about South Florida's main water source, I am showing both Color and BW images; many of which have never been outside of my studio. Truly, I must admit that I also have a couple of trips to make out there, which my waders have been itching to do. I will be sure to post the press release with all the info.

I have been working on those ocean landscapes that began right after the Gulf oil spill. My childhood is wrapped up in the ocean, and I have been more introspective with this work than even my personal portraits. I have had the idea to recite mantras as I photograph, but that transformed into the purity of a single emotion that surrounds my love of the ocean. Photographing an emotion or feeling is like magic. Which leads me to a new creative work I am "overseeing": a children's photography project to capture something meaningful to them. Selfishly, I feel as though I doing a social experiment because I am ecstatic to see what they see. Editing I am finally looking forward to! I think we forget how powerful the image can be and the vision of children. So, I will be sure to update news on this project.

Happy New Year!