Big Cypress - a Swamp Elegy
Entering a Cypress swamp puts the visitor into a different and fascinating world: dimlight and pitch dark is in sharp contrast with small, marked spots of torching sunlight, creating a magical atmosphere, somehow frightening for first-time visitors - especially when knowing about the abundance of up to 12 ft. long alligators (American Alligator) and several species of very poisonous snakes (Rattle Snakes and Cottonmouth).
Bizarre forms of trees, epiphytic bromeliads, ferns and climbing plants, and densely standing Cypress trees flooded by up to 4 ft. of water are welcoming you into a mysterious world from prehistoric times. Deafening silence is interrupted only by mystical sounds and calls from birds and frogs and the hum of approaching mosquitoes. During the rain season, nearly daily thunderstorms are flooding the whole Cypress swamp 2-4 ft. high with clear but tainted water, which is flowing with a low, silky-smooth swirling sound towards the nearby ocean.
Big alligators with a threatening self-consciousness are dozing and catching heat in a sunspot at the bank of ponds or water channels, setting the human visitor into an alerted mood and showing him his place in the ranking order of power in the Cypress swamp. Herons, Egrets and Ibises are shyly and elusively wading through the labyrinth of cypress trunks to catch their prey. In a silent underwater world, flocks of small viviparous fish species are swarming along, chased by numerous colorful cichlids, and water turtles are preying upon smaller fish. The living fossil Florida Gar is voraciously hunting fish of any size - and everyone is ruled by the mighty Alligator.
The Big Cypress portfolio is the result of an ongoing photographic project about the Cypress swamps in Florida. This unique and primordial ecosystem is highly endangered by rising sea level. Based on the most recent scientific projections the largest parts of today's Cypress swamps will most likely vanish by the end of this century. This lyrical documentation of the Floridian Cypress swamps becomes an Elegy for a seemingly doomed ecosystem.
Bizarre forms of trees, epiphytic bromeliads, ferns and climbing plants, and densely standing Cypress trees flooded by up to 4 ft. of water are welcoming you into a mysterious world from prehistoric times. Deafening silence is interrupted only by mystical sounds and calls from birds and frogs and the hum of approaching mosquitoes. During the rain season, nearly daily thunderstorms are flooding the whole Cypress swamp 2-4 ft. high with clear but tainted water, which is flowing with a low, silky-smooth swirling sound towards the nearby ocean.
Big alligators with a threatening self-consciousness are dozing and catching heat in a sunspot at the bank of ponds or water channels, setting the human visitor into an alerted mood and showing him his place in the ranking order of power in the Cypress swamp. Herons, Egrets and Ibises are shyly and elusively wading through the labyrinth of cypress trunks to catch their prey. In a silent underwater world, flocks of small viviparous fish species are swarming along, chased by numerous colorful cichlids, and water turtles are preying upon smaller fish. The living fossil Florida Gar is voraciously hunting fish of any size - and everyone is ruled by the mighty Alligator.
The Big Cypress portfolio is the result of an ongoing photographic project about the Cypress swamps in Florida. This unique and primordial ecosystem is highly endangered by rising sea level. Based on the most recent scientific projections the largest parts of today's Cypress swamps will most likely vanish by the end of this century. This lyrical documentation of the Floridian Cypress swamps becomes an Elegy for a seemingly doomed ecosystem.