La Ren Originals

I walk through the different parks around my home town quite often. Since I have a deep love for the Everglades as well, I try to find all the different ways that i can get a view of it. From lovely parks with trails and sidewalks to a backwards dirt road. Trust me...there here in South Florida, hidden, like little gems.

My birthday was on the 11th, so I made my way out to the Glades to capture the last sunset of my 28th year here on earth. I went out to the Arthur R Marshall Everglades Park here in Delray Florida and caught this sunset as a big rain cloud was coming in.

Spring is definitely here in the Northern Everglades. A couple of weeks ago I started noticing baby insects like the Black Eastern Lubber and the cries of mama and daddy alligators getting ready to mate. If you travel to the Everglades this time of year, its a good idea to keep some extra distance between you and gators, as they become more aggressive during mating season.  Their courtship process usually begins in early April, and mating occurs in May or June. Females build a mound nest of soil, vegetation, or debris and deposit an average of 32 to 46 eggs in late June or early July. Incubation requires approximately 63-68 days, and hatching occurs from mid-August through early September.

Sometimes we just dont get it right in camera. If you shoot in RAW, Lightroom can be savor for underexposed images. I go walking through the Everglades here in Florida quite often and here are some recent images I didnt quite get right in camera and was able to save in post. By shooting in RAW there is much more flexibility in Lightroom and other software editing image to "recover" it. Notice in the images below the detail I was able to extract that otherwise would have been gone. 

I love spending my afternoons in the Everglades. I find it so relaxing at the end of the day after I pick my children up from school and we're able to take a short drive out to the glades, where thank-god they blow off some steam!