Backstage: A Deeper Look

 

“There is no question that photography has played a major role in the environmental movement.” - Galen Rowell


    Burton Island wasn't always the beautiful nature preserve it is now, near the northern side of the Indian River Inlet in Sussex County, Delaware. The island has had many uses and seen many abuses during the years, but at one sad point in its story, it was a polluted dumping ground for a major chemical company. The island was trashed and unsafe to explore. Only with dedicated effort was the island cleaned up and restored to the natural state you can visit today. It's a lesson we must remember in order to keep our lands and water clean. Today, enough time has passed to see the forest lifecycle back at work. As I wrote in my post on June 11, 2022...

    Gentle audience, allow me to reveal to you a little sneak peek into the unexpected light revealing an old actor who once commanded the stage in the forest near the ocean. Still standing proudly in a small glade, you must have a keen eye to notice it now behind the thick curtain of younger players. When you take the time to look deeply through the shadows, you’ll find a great drama still taking place in the woods by the shore. 

    As a reminder, all profits from any sales on my website Marketplace from now until January 15, 2023 continue to be donated to the Glioblastoma Foundation, in remembrance of my friend and mentor Bob, who recently died too young from brain cancer. It’s a nice way to add some art to your life and contribute to an excellent charity. Peace be with all of you.

Clicking on the image will open it in full screen

‘Backstage,’ a special behind-the-scenes pass into the lifecycle of the precious trees in the increasingly rare maritime forest that makes Burton Island Nature Preserve near the Indian River Inlet such an important place in lower coastal Delaware.

www.johnjgiardinaphotography.com



Location: Burton Island Nature Preserve, Bethany Beach, DE 19930, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interconnection: The Way Things Fit Together

Image
  “ If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff. ”  - Jim Richardson     Sometimes, the interesting stuff I'm looking for is an evening beach, a ship out at sea, an interesting cloud, and a glowing moon, all working in unison to inspire me to think about how everything works together. The moon influence the tides, affecting the ship, and also the weather, which influences the cloud, which all worked to produce this interesting composition for me to capture and share. I love the color and the light, but most especially, I love the way all the elements work together. What harmony we have when our connections are clear and valued. As I wrote in my post on March 19, 2022...      When I was much younger, there was a BBC television show called Connections starring the Sherlock Holmes of Science, Mr. James Burke, who had a way of making each episode exploring some aspect of science into a spellbinding detective story. It was fantastic how he traced th
Read more

Gatherer: A Perfect Partnership

Image
  “ I often wished I could capture and share the sudden moments of beauty that I would see around me."   - Caroline Mueller     It's been put many ways but we don't help our spouses as a nice-to-do, occasional thing. A marriage, or relationship, is best built as a complete partnership where both people, or birds in this case, work together selflessly for the good of the relationship or family. Nobody is doing a favor as both parties act without ego to help further the goals of the unit. As I wrote in my post on May 13, 2023...      Welcome back to Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge where the graceful great white egrets roost and rule. Both male and female egrets help with nest building. This elegant bird posed perfectly for me with a small stick in their beak as they prepared to fly back towards the rookery. I watched the whole congregation for a long time work on their nests together and care for their hatchlings. What a magnificent display and a prime example of wh
Read more

Cow Branch Bend: Part 2 of 3 at Carolina Sandhills NWR

Image
“ Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph. ”  - Matt Hardy     You probably know that President Theodore Roosevelt directed the creation of our amazing National Parks, but did you know he also founded the National Wildlife Refuge System in 1903? On March 14 of that year, he established Pelican Island NWR along Florida's Atlantic Ocean coast.      Since then,  more than 560 wildlife refuges are in place across this country, and they're all managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Each NWR unit can be a wildlife refuge, a conservation area, a marine national monument, or a waterfowl production area. The different units help with conserving native species that depend on that land or water to thrive by using scientific management  methods. And I think they're another of our many national treasures.     As I wrote in my post on April 29, 2023...      Back in Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife R
Read more