[Music]
[Music]
while working on a story about manatees
a few years ago I was actually in
Florida shooting in freshwater rivers
and springs like Crystal River that we
see here this is a place that actually
attracts thousands of people every year
with kayaks and snorkelers even some
divers I guess because the manatees come
to these freshwater springs in the
wintertime because the water is warmer
and they need warm water to survive this
is an aerial photo that shows that
aggregation of manatees and people and
you know getting that behavior the
interaction between people and manatees
was an important part of the story that
I wanted to tell because this is a big
ecotourism business and these animals
have learned to adapt to humans but my
most special experiences as often is the
case happened late in the day when
everyone else had left and I was just
alone with the manatees I found that
they would often swim down these narrow
channels into these sort of primordial
springs and I would sort of just drift
down there behind them and be very
patient and wait until they allowed me
into their world photographically I was
shooting at very very high speeds this
is right around sunset so there’s very
little ambient light I’m shooting it
maybe 1,600 or 2,000 ISO but being able
to do that with digital cameras today
allows you to see much more of the
habitat instead of just the animal
incidentally as you may know manatees
were the animals that were told inspired
mermaid legends and early explorers that
came over to the new world like Columbus
wrote in their log books about seeing
mermaids it’s hard to believe that they
ever mistaken that face for that of a
mermaid but evidently those boys had
been on the boat a little too long but
nonetheless these experiences for me
were very special you know being alone
out there is a chance to see interesting
social interactions and behaviors things
I hadn’t necessarily read about like
this little social gathering I’d read
that manatees aren’t typically all that
social but yet here I could see this
kind of thing happening and you know
getting a brief glimpse into a otherwise
mysterious world
[Music]
[Music]
while working on a story about manatees
a few years ago I was actually in
Florida shooting in freshwater rivers
and springs like Crystal River that we
see here this is a place that actually
attracts thousands of people every year
with kayaks and snorkelers even some
divers I guess because the manatees come
to these freshwater springs in the
wintertime because the water is warmer
and they need warm water to survive this
is an aerial photo that shows that
aggregation of manatees and people and
you know getting that behavior the
interaction between people and manatees
was an important part of the story that
I wanted to tell because this is a big
ecotourism business and these animals
have learned to adapt to humans but my
most special experiences as often is the
case happened late in the day when
everyone else had left and I was just
alone with the manatees I found that
they would often swim down these narrow
channels into these sort of primordial
springs and I would sort of just drift
down there behind them and be very
patient and wait until they allowed me
into their world photographically I was
shooting at very very high speeds this
is right around sunset so there’s very
little ambient light I’m shooting it
maybe 1,600 or 2,000 ISO but being able
to do that with digital cameras today
allows you to see much more of the
habitat instead of just the animal
incidentally as you may know manatees
were the animals that were told inspired
mermaid legends and early explorers that
came over to the new world like Columbus
wrote in their log books about seeing
mermaids it’s hard to believe that they
ever mistaken that face for that of a
mermaid but evidently those boys had
been on the boat a little too long but
nonetheless these experiences for me
were very special you know being alone
out there is a chance to see interesting
social interactions and behaviors things
I hadn’t necessarily read about like
this little social gathering I’d read
that manatees aren’t typically all that
social but yet here I could see this
kind of thing happening and you know
getting a brief glimpse into a otherwise
mysterious world
[Music]
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