Colors of Cuba

Rhapsody in Red and Green

As I am working on printing my photographs for my upcoming exhibition on Cuba, I keep being astounded by all the beautiful colors that I see as the prints come out of my printer.  While I was there, I felt the same way.  This image was made on a boat trip around an island in Santiago Bay soon after we arrived.  I loved the colors of the rooftops and the whimsically painted boards set against the green trees and blue skies.  Though the people are not well off and lack many of the comforts most of us demand, there was such beauty in their homes, which fit perfectly within the landscape.   The light also illuminated the colors making them glow.  It was truly a feast for the eyes.

Ruins in the Golden Light

Santiago is besieged by both hurricanes and earthquakes.  How anything remains standing there is frankly a mystery.  In the towns, they have very stringent codes, but out of the city along the coastline things are different.  We came to this small town on the way back from the bay just as the sun was setting.  The others went to photograph the children riding their bikes down the street, but I was drawn to the setting sun and wandered off to this building.  Though it was abandoned and everything was falling apart, it was still bathed in this incredible light.  I stood in awe.  It made me realize that even though most tragic circumstances can be viewed optimistically in the right light and that the connotations surrounding abandoned buildings are all in the eye of the beholder.  Anything can be beautiful and magical, even dissolution.

Poverty in Paradise

From Santiago, we traveled to Baracoa, where I posted a previous blog about the Taino and the Toa River.  The image above was taken along the coastline.   Everyone I spoke with in Santiago asked where I was going next and when I said Baracoa, many of them said they had always dreamed of going there and that it was so beautiful.  When we got there, the waters edge by the nice hotel we were staying at was indeed lovely.  The following morning, after I made an image of the sunrise in the nice spot, I decided to go somewhere else to get another vantage point.  My companions and I stumbled upon this stretch of beach.  I made a few photographs looking out to sea, but then this incredible light started illuminating everything behind me.  I was amazed as the trees shimmered and the trash turned into jewels.  It took me a moment to recognize the homeless person lying on an elevated makeshift bed.  Immediately, I thought poverty is much better in paradise.  No wonder everyone wanted to be here. Amazingly, I actually had to desaturate the colors in this image because I knew the way the light hit everything would be too much for most people to believe.  This is Cuba.

Old Car Juxtaposed Against a Golden Building Beneath the Full Moon

In Havana, the cars were of course incredible.  This one was taken right across from our hotel in the late afternoon.  The way the buildings were lit up and their antiquity magically displayed almost made me think of a golden age–especially with the full moon in the background.  Everywhere I looked in Cuba there was something wonderful to see.  The streets were full of character and the people open and natural.  The impersonal walls of modernity had not yet been erected.

Marketplace Alley, Havana

My last morning, I wandered off to the marketplace with a fabulous Russian street photographer who was part of our group.  I learned so much from him about candid shots and being ready.  Previously, I always felt intrusive about making images of people.  Together, the two of us talked and connected with all kinds of interesting people.  Instead of being afraid of people, I became drawn into their worlds and fascinated by every glance and gesture they made.

There are many more photographs I will be sharing this weekend in Gainesville and I will post more in the days to come.  This is just a little taste of the colors of Cuba...

O'Leno State Park and Wishing for a Healthier Santa Fe River

Wishbone Branch ©Lynne Buchanan

Recently I was fortunate enough to go to O'Leno State Park, where the Upper Santa Fe River descends underground before appearing again three miles later at River Rise.  It was a moderately overcast day, which was perfect for photographing in the woods.  The whole experience of hiking along the river was mystical, with the moving water, the cypress knees, and the gnarled branches with mosses and lichens abounding.  No wonder the State named it an Outstanding Florida Water in 1984.  When I saw this particular tree branch jutting over the water, it reminded me of a wishbone and I knew what wish I was making–that this beautiful rivers and all our rivers are cared for and preserved.

Roots Along the Riverbank © Lynne Buchanan

The water rushes along here until it reaches the River Sink.  This part of the river, until it goes underground, is part of the Upper Santa Fe.  This part of the river is described by the Florida Springs Institute a "black-water, acidic, soft water river because of direct runoff through poorly drained swamplands." One of the biggest threats facing this part of the river is reduced flow as a result of ground water pumping and diverting the water for usage in Southern Georgia and Northern Florida.  The Lower Santa Fe, which is spring-fed, is plagued by nitrate nitrogen from fertilizers, human and animal waste disposal practices, and storm water runoff.  The flow in the Lower Santa Fe has been reduced by an estimated 40 percent as well.  It is such a magical place and beautiful river and we depend on the rivers for our own health too.  Without adequate flow and appropriate clean water standards, the entire ecosystem, of which many forget we are a part, will suffer.

Ogden Lake ©Lynne Buchanan

O'Leno Lake ©Lynne Buchanan

The park contains several very interesting narrow lakes that look more like fingers.  The reflections of the trees and vegetation were lovely.  These lakes are directly linked to the aquifer below and fluctuate in response to groundwater levels.  As our aquifer is drained, these lakes will disappear more and more.

Approaching the River Sink ©Lynne Buchanan

Sink Pools ©Lynne Buchanan

Be sure to spend a day in this beautiful park the next time you are in North Florida and appreciate all it has to offer.  To ensure it's health and adequate flow levels, please visit these sites and contribute to their preservation efforts.

http://oursantaferiver.org/wp/

http://floridaspringsinstitute.org

http://floridaspringsinstitute.org/Resources/Documents/Santa%20Fe%20RAP%20final.pdf

The Brightest Inner Lights Sometimes Get Extinguished. Thank you Kayla Mueller.

Sometimes a moment strikes such a deep chord in me that I have to stop.  I was out photographing the Chassahowitzka River last weekend, about which I will post a blog soon.  I had been within and along the riparian landscape.  The usual issues were cropping up, and the usual contrasts–amazing beauty juxtaposed against invasive species that are causing all kinds of havoc.  I was alternately happy and sad.  Glad to see such glorious trees and undisturbed banks, but then saddened to see that even here the chemicals we pour onto the earth are seeping in and causing massive disturbances under and even above water on the slow moving parts.  I was starting to give up hope.

Then, on the way home,  I rounded a corner and started paddling up toward Crab Creek Spring.  Suddenly, I saw this beautiful day lily about to unfurl in various stages.  The petals seemed resolute on opening and expanding.  There was no hesitation that it might not be a good idea, that the world they were opening into might not be all it was cracked up to be.  It was this blossom's time.  The light was good, the nutrients, the blossom was doing what it came onto this earth to do.  Opening, shining some bright inner energy that could not be contained.   You can see it here.   Nothing has been sullied yet.  There are no crimped edges, tainted parts.  

To some it might not have looked like much.  Many would have preferred the mature, wide open plant, the full blossom.  But to me, this is what I wanted to access in my life again.  This determination, this innocence, this state of pure potentiality, where all the bad news around you does not make you give up.  Where you want to open, must open, to shine whatever light you have and bridge gaps while raising the vibration of this planet.  The moment I saw Kayla Mueller's face on television, I knew she was one of these lights and I immediately empathized with her and what she had been trying to do.  Her face has stuck with me all day.  I could feel and see the love she was trying to share.  To her, on her path out of this world, I offer these flowers in gratitude.  

The Sweet Beauty of the Tulip Tree Magnolia

Tulip Tree Magnolia Blossoms

This image was made today at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens.  The Tulip Tree Magnolia's were fantastic, their blossoms displaying their last display of ripeness before all the petals fell from the trees.  See the gently unfurling flowers offset against the orbs created by the blurry flowers behind them was magical.  Just wanted to share this beautiful display of early spring in Florida.  Even my new puppy was impressed.  He and a friend came with me and I think he will be a fine assistant–especially if I can train him to hunt for dropped lens caps.  He sat very well-behaved while I put the camera on the tripod and took multiple images to stack.  I never suspected that a four-month-old puppy would tolerate photography.  Perhaps he too is attuned to the beauty of nature, though I know dogs are color blind, so much of the magic of this image would have been lost on him.

The St. John's is Not All Picture Perfect...

Confluence of the St. John's and the Lower Wekiva River ©Lynne Buchanan

The St. John's is one of the success stories for turning a river around.  There is even a documentary entitled "The River Returns: The St. John's River."  In 2008, it had the dubious distinction of making it to the list of America's Ten Most Endangered Rivers.  A much less happy honor than being named on of 14 American Heritage Rivers.  How we let something we supposedly cared about decline so much is beyond me, but it also may have had something to do with why people rallied to bring it back.  Although I was happy to see a great deal of beauty and many birds and other animals appearing healthy and happy within the riparian landscape, there were still areas that gave me pause. The photography above was taken where we moored the first night we were out on the water.  Although this makes a nice composition, invasive plants are still a problem along many parts of the river whether they are non-native or native like the dollar weed above.

Sick Eelgrass in the Lower Wekiva ©Lynne Buchanan

The real problems are more visible underwater, which is difficult to see in most places since it is a backwater river.  When I kayaked down the Wekiva one morning, I found a spot where the light was illuminating the water below and made this image with my underwater camera.  Everywhere I pointed the camera revealed a similar distressing scene of thick ropy algae covering the grasses.

Invasive Plants Taking Over Along the St. John's  ©Lynne Buchanan

Love Vine ©Lynne Buchanan  

Heron among the Dollar Weed ©Lynne Buchanan

Love Vine is a parasitic native plant. It is believed by some to have aphrodisiacal properties, hence its name, although it does harm the plants it attaches itself too.  Though birds love to fish among the plants on the shoreline, I have to wonder if too thick a blanket of invasive plants may make it more difficult to fish and even choke off the food supply.  Nature has its own balance and our use of pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals is disrupting this balance.

Wood storks along the Water's Edge ©Lynne Buchanan

Wood storks are my absolute favorite birds.  There is so much I love about these creatures.  They are but one of many species of birds I saw on this voyage that depend on the health of the river for their survival.  The thing is we all depend on the health of our rivers.  Somehow developers, people in the legislature, business people, and even every day citizens have distanced themselves from the environment and think it is somewhere else and that our ability to thrive is not dependent on its health, but this is simply not true.  Rivers and waterways provide food and water for us too and without healthy rivers are own future is just as threatened.  

Why I Missed Cut 34 on the St. John's ©Lynne Buchanan

The last late afternoon kayak trip I took, I was trying to find cut 34 to go over to the Norris Dead River.  I passed by this site not even realizing it was the pathway I was looking for.  Something told me to take a photograph of the abandoned, cracked kayak flipped upside down on the thick blanket of invasive plants.  I ended up having to get towed back to the houseboat we were staying on, because the cut I hoped to take back was also grown over.  My rescuers pointed out this place as where I would have been able to paddle through several years ago.  They told me that water management sprays back certain areas, so people can get to marinas, but that many of them are just covered up and choked off.

I had to post these photographs second.  My nature is to recognize life and survival and beauty first, but these images can't be ignored. Despite all the efforts to preserve this river, there are still lingering problems that could easily get out of control if vigilance is not maintained and efforts are not redoubled to keep cleaning up our waterways.  All of Florida's rivers are treasured. If some appear less beautiful than they once were, it is not their fault but ours.