Salt Marsh

(November 29th) I love salt marshes. They often have a sulfurous smell to them that dissuades some people, but when I smell that odor I feel energized. Salt marshes are teeming with life - they are the most productive habitat on the planet, on par with tropical rainforests. Most of the life you don't see - crabs in the mud, young fish and shrimp that spend the first part of their lives in the marsh waters, squid swimming through the deeper channels. The overflow that you do see is amazing though. Today I spent a couple of hours in the afternoon at a nearby salt marsh. Like clockwork, the clouds appeared righ as I got there. I stopped to take a picture of the Spanish Moss draping this Live Oak on the trail in.

When I got to the marsh, I tried to capture the enormity and vivacity of it, but I am not satisfied with the results. The dull light didn't help, but I feel like it still could have been much better. Here is the best of the bad.

I tried some driftwood shots and some wave shots, again with little success. On the walk out I saw this Horseshoe Crab someone have left just for me to capture in black-and-white. I don't have much B&W experience - well next to zero to be exact - but it's definitely something I want to work at.