Movie Dome

Another beautiful early morning with the mist gently rising off the grass.

We headed out to Movie Dome. This is a Cypress Dome that the Park takes groups of folks into in order to explain the ecosystem of a dome. Eric had told us that the bromeliads were abundant in the dome, so Clyde decided to photograph it.

We were stunned by the lush quantity of bromeliads. It was wonderful to see so many healthy plants in one place. Florida is being attacked by a beetle from Mexico that is eating our bromeliads. It is very sad because so far, there is nothing that can be done. The oaks and cypress trees are being denuded of bromeliads...what would Florida be without its bromeliads?! So, seeing that Everglades National Park hasn't been attacked is a very, very good sight!

In the center of the dome is a small pond with cypress trees surrounding it dripping with moss. Clyde set up his camera in the muck and began taking pictures. Because of the instability of muck, he took several shots of the same scene in the hopes that one of them will be sharp.

As the sun began lighting up the interior of the dome we had to leave. Direct sunlight on scenes that are 'inside' have a tendency to be 'blotchy'...to much contrast between the sunny areas and the shadow areas. The film can't see the extreme light levels so the image will turn out either to light or to dark. Only even light works for Clyde when shooting 'inside', so once the sun comes up we are headed out into the open for photography.