Rick by Marsel van Oosten

Rick by Marsel van Oosten

This is Rick, floating through the cypress trees on our Into The Cypress Swamps photo tour in Texas and Louisiana. Of all the tours we run, this is by far the most therapeutic one. There’s not a single place I’ve been that calms me down and gently caresses my inner chi like these magical swamps. I took this hero shot of Rick on an early morning in Louisiana, while I was standing in the water in my fashionable waders. Too bad you can’t see that, because I really look good in anything. The conditions that morning were great, and we spent a lot of hours on the water – photographing and relaxing. Some people think it’s hard work to do this kind of photography, but it’s really not. If you’ve never paddled before, you might go in circles for a few minutes, but after that, it’s a piece of cake. Yes, there are alligators, but at this time of year, the water is quite cold, and they’re basically hibernating. And if you’re really terrified of them, you can also photograph from the safety of your kayak – many of our guests have done that successfully. If this is something you’d like to do, then you’re in luck: we have a few spots left on this year’s Into The Cypress Swamps tour: squiver.com [Nikon D5, AF-S VR 80-400/4.5-5.6. 1/125 @ f/16, ISO 800, Gitzo tripod] Marsel | squiver.com

Marsel van Oosten: Photos