My favorite place to photograph is always the beach. I love the beach, and everything about it. However, due to the COVID-19 coronavirus all of Florida’s beaches are shut down. This means I need to find someplace else to photograph.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, it just forces me to look at other areas of Florida. I drove to an area where I was familiar with, the Ocala National Forest. I have never photographed much there mostly because I have always preferred the beaches. I do see a lot of opportunity that can be capitalized on. The photograph below was taken at Hopkins Prairie, just south of Salt Springs.

I walked to the edge of this lake and was hoping to find some good foreground interest. I didn’t have my boots with me so I couldn’t wade into the water and I wasn’t so sure that wading into the water would have been a good idea or not. In some places the mud can be deep, and it isn’t a good idea to just to tread out into the lake without knowing what the bottom is like. It still was a pretty sunset and the reflections on the water were amazing.

For the next few months I will be returning here to search for opportunities to photograph the Ocala National Forest. As long as they do not shut Florida completely down as far as traveling here, I will be working the area as well as I can.

©2020 Mellen Photography