If you're into photography as a hobby, one of the biggest challenges is fitting large blocks of time for it into your schedule.  When you try to convince your wife and son that it would be fun to spend a few days knee-deep in a cypress swamp, you're going to get nowhere...  That's where work comes in.  I happened to be in Houston on business at the same time as my photographer friend, Evan Sedlock.  We decided to pack our photo gear and head into southern Louisiana with hopes of shooting the large cypress swamps that dominate the region.  Unfortunately, we didn't have a boat, so that forced us to be a bit more creative.  We shot everything from land, or in most cases, semi-liquid bogs that force you to move your feet every ten seconds or so to avoid sinking ...

We saw some great scenery and lots of wildlife.  Ironically, we didn't spend much time in the Wildlife Management Areas.  There was far too much shooting and barking going on there.  We decided to go elsewhere before we got 'managed' too. 

Fortunately, the people of the region are very friendly, so we decided to ask around about land access to swamps.  Two local sheriff deputies were literally eating donuts in their cars when we approached.  When Evan asked one of them about access, he told him that they often leave one of the oil & gas lease properties unlocked, and told us how to get in.  I was a bit suspicious (working in New York as I do), but it turns out that it was just the ticket -- great swamps with lots of creatures crawling around.

The following pages have some selected photos from my first set of scans -- just click on any photo to see a larger version..  I'll put up several more as time permits.  I also plan to add some commentary as well.  I'll just have to think of something interesting to say first.