Also the only place I've feared for my life.

Imagine August on the TX/LA border. Temp over 100f. Humidity near 95%. Cypress trees 60_90 feet tall lining the bayous so no motion to the air. I ran out of water about 4 hours from camp. Ok, I'll get in the water to cool off- the water is as warm as the air. Ok I'll drive down to cooler water. Nope, water is too shallow to stratify. Get back in the canoe and humidity is too high for evaporative cooling. Had a bass fisherman (the only boat I'd seen all day) not seen my frantic waving and towed me back to Shady Glade Marina I might not have made it.

Deep summer is the most beautiful time of year there although Demotex shows how lovely it is any time of year. The 4 foot wide lotus llly pads sport blosums 15 inches across, every thing is green growing and the epitome of fecundity. Everywhere is native wildlife, alligators, herons, bitterns, nutria, possums, racoons and a host of other creatures too numerous to count. That said, you need to be prepared.

The mantra of journalists and nature photographers is "f 8 and be there". Sounds simple but "being there" can kill you.

places in rugged environments. It's best to learn about a place before you go whenever possible. If it's a pleasure journey, learn about it first. Too many people just jump in the car/pick up and head out on impromptu road adventures and end up in trouble because they didn't know where they were going and that it wasn't anything like home.

I have lived in extreme environments, way below sea level in the desert and 6500+ft above sea level... if you aren't ready for what is naturally in that environment, you might not survive the experience.

about Demo's work. And it is WORK.

Look at the lighting. So much of it is early or late. Sunrise or sunset. I'm pretry sure he spent time scouting locations looking for Ansel Adams' tripod marks. If it's early he got up at 4 or five AM to get there. If it's evening he's still has to get home in the dark after getting up before dawn.

I'm not that tuff.

My whole point about being there is that there's a lot to just "being there". Your observations help illustrate that.

Thanks for knowing what I'm talking about.

know something about being there in the photographic sense as I spent more than a decade photographing Yellowstone, year round. Didn't have a camera in the desert... it would have melted.