When big rains hit Dallas (and upstream), the Trinity River can flood the Great Trinity Forest with 10-15 feet of raging water. Those floods are essential to recharging numerous seasonal ponds in the forest with water, fish, and life. On the last big flood, I put on my waders and pushed into the waters to photograph.
The floods push wildlife to higher ground, often bunching them up into dense little peaceable kingdoms just above the water. Here is a shot of a praying mantis and a ladybug, just inches above the floodwaters raging near the Trinity River Audubon Center.
For any photographers out there, I used a tilt-shift lens to shift the plane of focus so that just the mantis’ head and the ladybug are sharp, and leaving everything else soft and out of focus.
Canon 1Ds Mk III. 90mm Tilt Shift Lens. ISO 800. f/8 @ 1/50 sec. +1 1/3 EV
