Weird Florida: Your Travel Guide to Florida's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets

Weird Florida: Your Travel Guide to Florida's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets Review

Praise for Weird Florida:

 

“…this series is distinguished by its focus on stories over places and its colorful photos.”  

                                                                                                                   —Library Journal

Journal of Light: The Visual Diary of a Florida Nature Photographer

Journal of Light: The Visual Diary of a Florida Nature Photographer Review

In wonder and gratitude, prize-winning photographer John Moran travels the Sunshine State with his cameras, seeking his vision of natural Florida as it must have appeared to Ponce de Leon and other early strangers in paradise. This remarkable collection of images and essays celebrates the magic of a landscape born of water, he writes, and "blessed with beauty beyond measure."

            The book caps Moran's 20-year odyssey to discover the soul of one of the most photographed states in the country. Still, he says, for a photographer who works on the road, he doesn't get around very much. The outer limits of his travels ordinarily are defined by places close to home, with names like Live Oak, Cedar Key, and Micanopy. Working mostly in north and central Florida, Moran says his pictures consecrate a region "steeped in blackwater swamps and rivers, populated by egrets and alligators."

Keenly aware that much of the state's wilderness has all but vanished, his pictures sometimes only suggest the illusion of unspoiled nature. "I can't tell you how often I've had to recompose my pictures to eliminate a beer can or a bed mattress or worse in the woods," he writes. At times, he's made his best pictures literally within sight of his car, "aware of my own impact on the land, mindful of the myth of untainted nature that I promote with my camera." He's also worked in unconventional situations, lying inside a homemade PVC pipe-and-burlap blind to photograph dancing sandhill cranes and perching inside a bucket truck 50 feet aboveground to photograph nesting ospreys.

The companion essays reflect Moran's philosophy about both nature and photography, and they weave together personal narrative, natural history, and photo-technical instruction. They include commentary about the actual moment he snapped each picture, factual information about the place, and sometimes a historical perspective on the setting by such well-known writers and naturalists as William Bartram and Archie Carr. Moran emphasizes "making" pictures as opposed to casually taking them, and writes that his job can't be done without a plan and a specific set of tools and materials. But, he says, his job "isn’t always about the picture, it's about the experience of just being there, chasing the light; alive and awake and aware." And he recalls some of the best advice he ever received: before you focus your camera, first focus yourself. 

             

 

 

Fodor's Florida 2011 (Full-color Travel Guide)

Fodor's Florida 2011 (Full-color Travel Guide) Review

• Full-color guide • Make your trip to Florida unforgettable with illustrated features, 57 maps, and 406 color photos.
• Customize your trip with simple planning tools • Convenient overview of each region and its highlights • Top experiences and attractions • Easy-to-read color regional maps
Explore Miami, Walt Disney World, the Everglades, and beyond
• Discerning Fodor’s Choice picks for hotels, restaurants, sights, and more • “Word of Mouth” tips from fellow Fodor’s travelers
• Illustrated features on the best Florida beaches, shelling on Sanibel Island, and snorkeling and diving in the Florida Keys • Best fishing, shopping, and dining
• Opinions from destination experts • Fodor’s Florida-based writers reveal their favorite local haunts • Revised annually to provide the latest information

Florida Top 10 Garden Guide: The 10 Best Palms, 10 Best Vines--the 10 Best of Everything You Need - The Plants Most Likely to Thrive in Your Garden - ... Important Tasks in the Garden Each Season

Florida Top 10 Garden Guide: The 10 Best Palms, 10 Best Vines--the 10 Best of Everything You Need - The Plants Most Likely to Thrive in Your Garden - ... Important Tasks in the Garden Each Season Review

A new addition to Sunsets highly popular Top 10 regional gardening series, Florida Top 10 Garden Guide is an extremely user-friendly guide to successfully cultivating a beautiful garden in this diverse state. It focuses on plants naturally suited to the climatic zones and seasonal conditions of Floridaplants that are readily available and deliver optimal results. Includes a calendar of tasks for each season. Written by Robert Bowden, a leading authority on Florida plants and executive director of the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando. Features n Fifth volume in Sunsets highly popular Top 10 series n Offers more than 400 detail and landscape plant photographs n Easy-to-understand selection and growing instructions n Seasonal gardening guides ensure year-round success for experienced and novice gardeners alike n Recommended plants are readily available at local nurseries

Florida (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Florida (Eyewitness Travel Guides) Review

With its theme parks and fabulous beaches, The Sunshine State deserves its reputation as the perfect family vacation spot. But Florida offers much more to those who venture away from their beach towels. This is the perfect guide to exploring all that the state has to offer, including the extraordinary diversity of wildlife at Everglades and the Keys, and the rich mix of Caribbean, north and south American culture. With over 1000 photographs and illustrations, plus top recommendations on where to stay, shop and eat.



Recognized the world over by frequent flyers and armchair travelers alike, Eyewitness Travel Guides are the most colorful and comprehensive guides on the market. With beautifully commissioned photographs and spectacular 3-D aerial views revealing the charm of each destination, these amazing travel guides show what others only tell. Includes beautiful new full-color photos, illustrations, and enhanced maps Extensive information on local customs, currency, medical services, and transportation New "Discovering" feature helps decide which regions are best suited to the trip.