I just got back from a vacation in the keys and the everglades. I grew up in Key West and hadn't been back for 20 years. I was glad to see that not too much has changed, and it didn't seem like anything had changed in a bad way.
This was shot at Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West. The brickwork in this fort is truly outstanding, especially considering it was made in the mid-1800s. Unfortunately it was made technologically obsolete shortly after it was built, but its interesting brick work remains.
This is Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas National Park. The Dry Tortugas sit 70 miles west of Key West and were an important strategic position for early America's shipping routes between the Mississippi River and the East Coast ports. The fort was built around the same time as Fort Taylor on Key West to maintain a permanent presence on the island and provide safety to a group of battleships that would sit in a deep harbor behind the fort. The battleships in turn could chase down enemy ships whether pirates or enemy nations. The fort never fired a shot but was famous for detaining Dr. Mudd. Dr. Mudd helped mend John Wilkes Booth's leg after the assassination of President Lincoln.
These are beautiful shots. Did you consider using HDR on your first image to bring out some more detail in the lower left.
How difficult is it to get to Dry Tortugas NP?
I actually just took the jpeg straight from the camera. There's more detail there in the raw, but I didn't feel that it contributed to the mysterious nature of the lighting. I also like how the Canon process handles the brick red better than ACR.
How difficult is it to get to Dry Tortugas NP?
There are a few options.
1) Take your own boat. Seas can easily be 5-7 foot swells or more, and its 70 miles, so you better have a pretty big boat. This is why I never visited when I was growing up. Our 20 foot boat was fine for a 6 miles trip to the reef, but was too small for a 140 mile trip in 7 foot swells. You might be able to rent a boat large enough for this purpose in the keys though. If you were going with several people, this might be the most economical.
2) Take a ferry service. There are two and they are easy to look up. They currently cost $120-150 per adult. You can camp on the island using this option. It is a 2.5 hour ride each way and a full day trip. Each boat holds roughly 100 passengers. We used Sunny Days and I really liked them, enough to do a reef trip with them too. Their catamaran was 82 feet and it was still a bit rough in 3-5 foot swells.
3) Take a seaplane. The seaplane offers two options. 1/2 day trip (AM or PM) for a little more than the ferry. Full day trip, which is basically double the 1/2 day rate because they reserve a seat each way on the 1/2 day flights.
Love those shots... its on my list of places to go, really would enjoy camping for a night or two.... that said, not exactly close, and certainly wont work for a day's drive to shoot images!!!!
Discussion
8 repliesThis was shot at Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West. The brickwork in this fort is truly outstanding, especially considering it was made in the mid-1800s. Unfortunately it was made technologically obsolete shortly after it was built, but its interesting brick work remains.
You can see additional shots from my trip here.
http://www.ladewigs.com/Gallery/v/America/FL_Keys/
How difficult is it to get to Dry Tortugas NP?
Thanks.
I actually just took the jpeg straight from the camera. There's more detail there in the raw, but I didn't feel that it contributed to the mysterious nature of the lighting. I also like how the Canon process handles the brick red better than ACR.
There are a few options.
1) Take your own boat. Seas can easily be 5-7 foot swells or more, and its 70 miles, so you better have a pretty big boat. This is why I never visited when I was growing up. Our 20 foot boat was fine for a 6 miles trip to the reef, but was too small for a 140 mile trip in 7 foot swells. You might be able to rent a boat large enough for this purpose in the keys though. If you were going with several people, this might be the most economical.
2) Take a ferry service. There are two and they are easy to look up. They currently cost $120-150 per adult. You can camp on the island using this option. It is a 2.5 hour ride each way and a full day trip. Each boat holds roughly 100 passengers. We used Sunny Days and I really liked them, enough to do a reef trip with them too. Their catamaran was 82 feet and it was still a bit rough in 3-5 foot swells.
3) Take a seaplane. The seaplane offers two options. 1/2 day trip (AM or PM) for a little more than the ferry. Full day trip, which is basically double the 1/2 day rate because they reserve a seat each way on the 1/2 day flights.
Taken from the other side of the fort in the afternoon.