Transitions

Sunday was the perfect north Florida late February day. Temperature near 70, deep blue southern skies... After eight full weeks of winter and a couple of freezing nights in the last week it was welcome relief. We hit the trail at the Julington-Durbin Preserve at the south end of Duval County, early enough to enjoy the warmth, and late enough for the angle of the sunlight to come slashing in at about 45 degrees.

I love the backlit effect the natural light provides in the late afternoon, piercing the translucent shell of a recently ruptured seedpod. Even though this is Florida, almost everything here is the color of this pod -- gold and brown. Here and there we are getting early previews of the spring to come -- red maple seed pods and some early blooming redbud -- but most of the vegetation has been frozen to a crisp by an unusual number of nights in the low to mid twenties.

I shot this photo with a Sigma 150mm macro lens -- the actual seedpod is about an inch long. Looking forward to the transition to spring, which will start here in the next couple of weeks as the azaleas spring to life. Change is truly the only constant....