{"id":104772,"date":"2025-10-26T09:30:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T09:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/104772\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T09:30:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T09:30:14","slug":"capturing-the-mystical-energy-of-the-okefenokee-swamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/104772\/","title":{"rendered":"Capturing the \u2018mystical\u2019 energy of the Okefenokee Swamp"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Okefenokee Swamp is often associated with cypress trees and Spanish moss, but the ecosystem also includes vast prairies.<\/p>\n

To David Walter Banks<\/a>, there\u2019s something special about the Okefenokee Swamp, the largest blackwater swamp in North America.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a mystical quality, the photographer says, that\u2019s hard to explain to someone who\u2019s never been there before.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s this spiritual, metaphysical presence,\u201d he said. \u201cTime and time again, people that go there explain that\u2019s it’s just magical. It touches people’s lives when they enter the space and spend time there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past three years, Banks has spent nearly 70 nights alone in the swamp, which stretches more than 400,000 acres from southern Georgia to northern Florida. He would stay there a few days at a time, camping on the islands or just elevated wooden platforms.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t This century-old hunting cabin is on Floyd\u2019s Island, photographer David Walter Banks said. Visitors can obtain a permit to stay there. \u201cI initially found it too spooky to camp inside of until the sky began to darken and I decided I would much rather be inside than have its darkened windows looming above me,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThat said, I returned many times and the small wooden cabin became a highlight of my trips. \u2026 I would sweep the cabin and play handyman, taking pride as the temporary steward.\u201d<\/p>\n

His days would consist of paddling on a boat and \u201cdoing the best I could to be completely present in the moment,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I would photograph was whatever I saw, whatever I was drawn to.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there was something missing at first. His photos, by themselves, weren\u2019t fully capturing the way it felt out there to him.<\/p>\n

So he got creative, experimenting with different in-camera techniques to inject more color and fantastical elements to all the wildlife he\u2019d encounter on his trips.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always had a love and a fascination for the way that photography can capture a moment that is more or different than what our eyes see, especially when that picture sort of hints at the surreal or magical realism,\u201d Banks said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that I nurtured personally, even if it wasn\u2019t for my professional work.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t An alligator is seen beneath the water of a winding narrow passage. It is lit with color-gelled flashes mixed with daylight, Banks explained.<\/p>\n

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Spiders are aplenty and have ample dining options during the warm months, Banks said, when bug shirts and head covers are needed after dark.<\/p>\n

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Carnivorous pitcher plants are a staple in the Okefenokee prairies and are bunched in bouquets.<\/p>\n

Banks\u2019 gorgeous, almost psychedelic images make up his new book \u201cTrembling Earth: A Transcendental Trip Through the Okefenokee<\/a>.\u201d Okefenokee has been translated as \u201cland of trembling earth\u201d in the the Muskogee language.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to hint at this more spiritual, mystical feeling that people have talked about this place since (naturalist and writer) William Bartram\u2019s travels<\/a> in the 18th century,\u201d Banks said. \u201cIt was like suddenly, all these little tricks that I had come up with, for creating an image that feels a little more surreal, I had an outlet for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The effects are mainly the result of strobe lights and colored gels or filters, Banks explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I go out on these trips, I have normally two lights: one goes on my camera, or can also be used off camera, and the other is a little bit of a stronger battery-powered strobe light like you would use in a studio,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m often using one, if not both of those. Sometimes they’ll have different colors, like a tinted piece of plastic more or less that goes in front of the light, and then the light shoots through that and casts that color.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy favorite time in the swamp is predawn, when the fog cloaks the landscape bestowing an eerie glow,\u201d Banks said.<\/p>\n

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In this long-exposure photo, Banks shined light on the prairie grasses and then allowed the gradient of the sky to burn into the shadows.<\/p>\n

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A marsh fern is lit with color-gelled flash and layered upon itself in this triple-exposure photo taken along the Suwannee Canal.<\/p>\n

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Storm clouds fill the sky over a winding canoe trail near Monkey Lake.<\/p>\n

Some of the more complicated-looking images are created with a long exposure, where the camera shutter is open for multiple minutes at a time. This is especially used before sunrise and after sunset, when light is limited.<\/p>\n

\u201cSay I have a landscape that I like, I like how it looks. I’ll set up the camera, I’ll have it on a tripod, and I’ll have a long exposure,\u201d Banks said. \u201cNow, during that long exposure, I’ll be taking these two strobes, and I’ll be running around and just popping them off, just lighting different things, sometimes with different colors.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy strobes can only reach so far, so I’ll also bring these high-powered, tiny flashlights. I’ll take those same gels that I put over my strobes, and I’ll use my hand and cover these flashlights. I’ll use those to sort of paint in things are that are off in the distance.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t In this long-exposure photo, Banks used multiple gelled strobes, a high-powered flashlight and a laser pointer split in many directions. The idea was to mimic the feeling of being surrounded by fireflies in the Okefenokee.<\/p>\n

These techniques help the images feel more emotive to Banks. But there\u2019s also another benefit: They grab your attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people are just bombarded with visual stimuli these days. \u2026 Part of this is also kind of jerking people out of that scroll malaise and making them stop and look at the photo and question it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Banks wants to use his book to raise awareness about the swamp and some of the threats it has faced in the past and possibly in the future. Environmental advocates recently helped put a stop to a proposed titanium dioxide mine at the Trail Ridge, which borders the swamp on its eastern boundary. There were concerns that the mining could have lowered the water levels of the swamp and made it more susceptible to wildfire.<\/p>\n

The Conservation Fund stepped in to purchase an 8,000-acre tract of land<\/a> from the mining company that was applying for permits, but Banks says the swamp won\u2019t be fully protected until safeguards are put on all the waterways and land that surround it.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t <\/p>\n

Big Water Lake before dawn, surrounded by fog. \u201cThe area was so shrouded I ended up paddling a mile in the wrong direction, adding two miles to my day\u2019s journey,\u201d Banks remembered.<\/p>\n

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A double exposure of flowers blooming on the prairie.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t An alligator at night in the winding waterway of Canal Run. Banks\u2019 appreciation for gators grew over time. \u201cTheir hooked smiles, body language, and lackadaisical nature remind me of the dear pit bulls who have accompanied me most of my adult life,\u201d he wrote in his book. \u201cI begin to feel a kinship without losing a reverence for their unbridled power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place is a National Wildlife Refuge, so the actual space is protected \u2014 but the boundaries are not,\u201d Banks pointed out.<\/p>\n

He is passionate about protecting the swamp, which has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site<\/a>, so that future generations can enjoy it. It\u2019s one of the largest intact freshwater ecosystems in the world, he said, with incredible biodiversity that includes rare and endangered species such as the gopher tortoise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWetlands, they’re like our redwood forests of the South,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are where our gigantic trees are. These are where our prehistoric trees are. And more than half of the wetlands in the lower 48 states are already gone, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t A dense fog is seen on a cold December day. “Thunderstorms persisted throughout my seven-hour paddle, causing a change in humidity and pressure and temperature between the air above and the water below,\u201d Banks said.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t A long handheld exposure at dusk shows the tree canopy above Canal Run.<\/p>\n

Since his first night in the swamp, when he was serenaded by a symphony of frog songs, owl calls and alligator bellows, Banks has fallen in love with the Okefenokee and the way it makes him feel.<\/p>\n

Sometimes there\u2019s a great quiet, an emptiness where he can center himself and find refuge from the hustle and bustle of daily life. At other times, it can be chaotic and challenging, with intense storms that remind him of nature\u2019s unrelenting force.<\/p>\n

All of it gives him a greater appreciation for life, which he explains more in his book.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is no comprehensive record of facts between these covers, but it is one of truth \u2014 the truth of my experience,\u201d he writes. \u201cOne of newfound awareness and revelation, and interconnectedness. I hope \u2018Trembling Earth\u2019 captures not only what can be seen, but what can be felt \u2014 the unmistakable yet ineffably mystical quality of this primordial space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t \"\/\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Multiple color-gelled strobes light the raindrops during this long-exposure photo taken at Big Water Lake on a cold night.<\/p>\n

David Walter Banks\u2019 book \u201cTrembling Earth<\/a>\u201d was published by The Bitter Southerner and is now available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Okefenokee Swamp is often associated with cypress trees and Spanish moss, but the ecosystem also includes vast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-104772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}