Around the State

Florida offers so many opportunities to explore. We’ll chronicle our encounters with nature and interesting places and share our stories about the fun events we attend.

Our Most Recent Report

  • 2026 Roar Before the Rolex 24

    The 2026 racing season is underway. We kicked it off with a trip over to Daytona International Speedway to shoot the Roar Before the Rolex 24. The Roar is a 3-day practice session for teams preparing for the Rolex 24, the iconic 24-hour endurance race.

    40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac Exiting the International Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026

    It seems like every year the Roar manages to land on the coldest weekend of winter. This year was no different as temperatures started off near freezing. But skies were clear, so the sun helped to warm things nicely. Although it never reached 60 degrees, the lack of wind helped immensely.

    9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini in Garage Area at Daytona International Speedway – 2026

    The Rolex 24 is an amazing motorsports experience. It brings together drivers from around the world to compete in the ultimate team racing event. Drivers from many of the other top series like IndyCar, F1, and NASCAR join the regular teams in the Weathertech IMSA series for the 24-hour race. The incredible part of endurance racing is that 4 different classes of cars race at the same time. There are 61 cars entered. The high-tech hybrid GTP cars are the fastest. They are million-dollar machines with many advanced features that eventually find their way to passenger vehicles. The remainder of the field is comprised of cars from Lamborghini, Ferrari, Corvettes, Aston Martin, Porsche, Mercedes AMG, Lexus, BMW, and Mustang GT.

    4 Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Heading Toward Turn 1 at Daytona International Speedway – 2026
    64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang Heading Toward the West Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026
    93 Meyer Shank Acura and 8 Tower Motorsports LMP2 Exiting the International Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026

    The Roar and the Rolex 24 are amazing fan-friendly experiences. Not only are ticket prices very affordable, but fans have open access to the garage areas, and they are allowed on pit lane to view the cars prior to the race. There is even a huge camping event for Boy Scouts during the Roar and parking for all fans during the Roar is free. It is definitely one of the best events for families in all sports. It’s also a great opportunity for photographers without credentials. Using a small step ladder, we can get over the fences around the infield to get clear shots of the cars as they fly past.

    What is truly incredible about this event is that after 24 hours of continuous high-speed racing, from daylight through darkness and back to daylight again, sometimes through periods of pouring rain, the margin of victory for the class winners is often just a few seconds! If a person was looking to attend a marquee auto race, this one should be very high on the list.

    31 Whelen Cadillac Heading Toward the West Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026
    7 Penske Motorsports Porsche Exiting the International Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026
    10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac Heading Toward Turn 1 at Daytona International Speedway – 2026
    6 Penske Motorsports Porsche and 8 Tower Motorsports LMP2 Exiting the International Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026
    93 Meyer Shank Acura Heading Toward the International Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026
    52 Bryan Herta Autosport LMP2 Heading Toward the West Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026

  • 2026 Roar Before the Rolex 24

    The 2026 racing season is underway. We kicked it off with a trip over to Daytona International Speedway to shoot the Roar Before the Rolex 24. The Roar is a 3-day practice session for teams preparing for the Rolex 24, the iconic 24-hour endurance race. It seems like every year the Roar manages to land…

  • 2025 Year in Review

    As we kick off 2026, here is a look back at some of the highlights of 2025. It was a quiet year overall for wildlife photography. The multiple hurricanes of 2024 brought torrential rain and lots of tree damage. This completely changed the migration patterns for countless bird species. The availability of ample water from…

  • Backyard Birds

    Sometimes the best place to photograph nature can be right in the back yard. We are very fortunate to have a wonderful yard filled with colorful flowering shrubs and nice trees. The shrubbery provides excellent cover for birds, rabbits, and squirrels and their flowers attract a wide variety of butterflies and often hummingbirds. When the…

  • Farmland of Central Florida

    One of our favorite areas to visit for the wide variety of plants and wildlife is the agricultural region of Hardee County, Florida. The area is a vast expanse of farms growing citrus, blueberries, tomatoes and other vegetables, and cattle. Separating the farms are areas of swamp and forests. The diversity of the land is…

  • Springtime Changes

    Living in Florida, the seasonal changes are a lot less dramatic than in other parts of the country. While our rain dial can go from 0 in the “winter” to 100 in the summer, our temperature dial usually only goes from 70 to 90. Sometimes we only notice the seasons changing when we must reset…

  • St. Pete Firestone Grand Prix

    The 2025 IndyCar season is underway. The teams arrived on Thursday and hit the track for practice on Friday. The weekend culminated Sunday with the running of the 21st Firestone Grand Prix presented by RP Funding. Mother Nature provided 3 remarkable days of bright blue skies and temperatures in the mid-70s. It was perfect for…

  • A Couple of Recent Trips

    Last week Pam and I took a quick trip over to Lakeland to meet up with an old friend from Canada who spends the winters with his wife and dogs in Florida. We met him at Lake Morton, which is one of our favorite bird spots in the region. It was a beautiful sunny day…

  • Roar Before the Rolex 24

    Last Friday, my good friend and fellow photographer Art Nadelman and I attended the Roar Before the 24 at Daytona International Speedway. The combination of seemingly non-stop on-track action, and the anticipation for the upcoming Rolex 24 made this a very busy day. In fact, we walked over 6 miles covering many areas around the…

  • Rare Fork-Tailed Flycatcher

    Birdwatching is often about patience and timing, and sometimes it rewards you with unforgettable moments. During a recent visit to Bahia Beach Nature Preserve in Ruskin, Florida, we experienced such a moment when we encountered a fork-tailed flycatcher. This rare vagrant to North America dazzled with its graceful flight and striking appearance, making it a…

  • Hurricane Update

    It has been an active hurricane season with 3 storms affecting us since early August. Hurricane Debby kicked things off with incredible rain. Despite making landfall in the big bend region as only a category 1 storm, our area received over 15 inches which caused a lot of flooding. In fact, several streets in our…

  • Sebring

    Last week right before hurricane Helene decided to wreak havoc on our area, my friend Art and I took a ride over by Sebring. It’s an area that we like to visit because of the diverse landscape. Most of the region is comprised of large farms with citrus groves, and a lot of cattle ranches.…

  • Summer Update

    Summer in Florida is the time of year when photography gets slow. While there are several species of birds that migrate here for the summer months, we start getting anxious for the fall and winter migrations. It’s a good time of the year for butterflies. Unfortunately, it’s also our rainy season and mosquitoes love the…

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