Photo:Engage

  “ The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but having new eyes. ”  - Marcel Proust     I must admit I didn't realize how important the creation of watering locations by people was to the sustaining power of the refuge system. Like many, I simply assumed that they had always been there, that they were natural features. Without the water, the many avian, aquatic, and terrestrial species that depend on the refuges would have little choice but to compete with people and lose. People built and maintain many of the ponds, lakes, tributaries, and watering holes in the refuge system and it's to them and their hard work that I salute. As I wrote in my post on May 6, 2023...      Let’s take one last look for now at one of the many manmade water sources in Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge. This section of the Oxpen Branch, a small tributary system between the Refuge’s various ponds and lakes, is near the curiously ramped v...

“ 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 Ap...

  “ Everywhere is something which could be beautiful. You must only be able to see and to know what and how to take off, to crop from the infinity. ”  - Florin Constantinescu      This day demanded the polarizing filter to clear up the glare from the sun's light reflecting from the water. And how the blues and greens did pop! As I wrote in my post from April 1, 2023...      Driving along toward home in north central South Carolina, I began to get hungry for lunch. I had some homemade pulled pork nice and warm in my Hot Logic mini portable oven and a couple rolls and some mayo were ready. But where to stop? Quite out of nowhere, on my left suddenly was a sign for the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge. A quick signal and brake and I was easily in the nice quiet parking lot. In fact, I was the only one there. Although the visitor center should have been open, the staff must have been elsewhere because I saw nobody else during my visit....

  “ I find it some of the hardest photography and the most challenging photography I've ever done. It's a real challenge to work with the natural features and the natural light. ”  - Galen Rowell     I love taking the long way on road trips, avoiding the highway and choosing the backroads when possible. And off those backroads are often the most amazing natural places to stop and visit. So many of these places can be reached quickly from the vehicle making them accessible to almost anyone. And some of my favorite places are the marshes common along the east coast of the United States. As I wrote in my post on May 7, 2022...     What fondness for the marshy junction of sea and land I feel! Whether it be along the shores of the inland bays of southern Delaware, or the Lowcountry of South Carolina, or here, in the wonder of the eastern shore of Virginia, they all hold me enthralled in their great natural beauty. I feel the warmth of the setting sun on my skin ...