Everglades N. P., 1990’s

Get eye-level with your subject! With animals or kids, your photographs will have so much more impact and better catch personalities if the viewer is looking AT them instead of down on them.

In some cases it’s also important to use as long a lens as possible, from as far away as possible, like the 500mm I used here.

When I was there the Anhinga Trail was a narrow paved path with a guide rail of sorts along each trail side, about 12″-18″ above the ground. I’m shooting under both rails from one side of the path. On the opposite side, the small grassy area between the path and the water was a nice sunning area for alligators, including this one.

As I was getting in position to shoot this, on my belly like him, I noticed a couple, apparently non-southern tourists from the look of their pasty white skin starting to glow pink. They walked down the path and then one sat on the rail almost over the gator while the other backed up to get a photograph. I started to tell them how quickly an alligator can move, but then realized if something was going to happen it would be over before I could explain.

So I waited to see if I would get a different picture. Everyone was fine, but there is an argument to be made for natural selection.

For more of Bill’s photographs, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index.