I’m often asked, “Where are you off to next?” I have a reputation for seeking out beautiful places to take landscape photos. Many times, it’s to a place that folks recognize. Places such as Glacier National Park, The California Redwoods or Denali National Park in Alaska. But capturing the natural beauty of Nature isn’t relegated to places that we all recognize. Sometimes a place is on my radar that many may not recognize, so when I was asked recently where my next destination would be I answered that I was headed to Texas to photograph a swamp. My answer was met with a little bit of a blank look of confusion. A swamp? In Texas? Yep.
I just returned from that swamp and I can say that I had to throw out all of my preconceived ideas about how creepy and icky a swamp was. I pictured a swamp monster climbing out of the fog, muck and the mire, or animals that were out to kill or maim me. Alligators, venomous snakes, and insects came to mind instantly. And as for beauty? I’m from the Pacific Northwest where beauty in Nature seems obvious, but a swamp was new to me.
I traveled south and east to the border of Texas and Louisiana to a place called Uncertain Texas, and the Big Cypress Bayou which includes Caddo Lake. Being uncertain why a place would be named Uncertain I researched the history of the name and even those who tell the stories aren’t completely certain about how it got its name. I like the story where the folks who lived there in the late 19th century applied for township. On the form where they were to give the name for their new town was written, “uncertain”. It seems that the name had yet to be completely decided upon but the powers that be approved the name and it stuck. Whatever the truth might be, it’s a unique name for a unique place.
Truth be told I had seen a lot of photos that were taken there recently on social media sites, as this place has popped up on the radar of a lot of modern landscape photographers. In this age of social media and digital photography a location can quickly become the next best place to flock to. Photographers seem to migrate from one popular location to the next each season to try to create a photograph that will propel them to the top of the social media hierarchy of exposure. Caddo Lake Texas is one of those places. Almost completely unheard of by most photographers no more than a couple of years ago, today photographers are gathering there to photograph the Autumn color of the foliage of the Spanish moss laden submerged bald cypress forests. And I had to join the migration.
I was fortunate to be asked to co-lead a photography workshop by a fellow photographer, and friend, who lives in Texas and is familiar with the area, Alyce Bender. I jumped at the chance. I arrived at the location a few days ahead of the workshop attendees and spent time to immerse myself in the landscape and the local culture – I have never been called sir so many times in my life. Folks who live on the bayou seem to be completely down to earth and so polite that I felt welcome right away.
Caddo Lake is the largest natural lake in Texas. At 60 square miles it offers varied views including the lake itself with beautiful reflections of the sunrises and the sunsets. Lining the lake are swampy areas that are home to the largest forest of submerged bald cypress trees. The lake had been flooded naturally at one time by a huge log raft on the Red River, which provided navigable water for steam boats to access towns such as Jackson, whose port rivaled the nearby Shreveport in Louisiana. Near the turn of the 20th century the Army Corp of Engineers removed the log raft that dammed the river and the lake virtually dried up, which no longer allowed the river boats to access the towns near the lake. In time the Army Corp of Engineers built a dam to reflood the lake and the swamps around it.
The lake bed was once dry enough for the seeds from the bald cypress to establish themselves in the muddy fields as many of these trees are 200-300 years old. As the water flooded their bases it created what we now know as Caddo Lake. These cypress trees are habitat for an incredible variety of birds such as egrets, blue heron, ibis, owls, eagles, and king fishers. The swamp is also home to snakes, frogs, bobcats, river otters, beavers and alligators. The lake is a popular fishing destination and offers the angler, crappie, white bass, largemouth bass, catfish, sunfish, carp, and bream. The lake is also home to a throwback to the days of the dinosaurs, the endangered and very unique paddlefish. It’s a large fish with a long snout that looks similar to a paddle, thus its name. Caddo Lake is also home to the Texas Bigfoot, or so I was told.
Sadly, as it seems to be with most places of natural beauty in this modern age, there are challenges to the lake. Forty-four of Caddo’s native species are either endangered, threatened, or rare so it’s managed closely by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition to the challenges of its wildlife an invasive non-native species of plant was inadvertently introduced to the lake. The lake is under siege by a fast growing aquatic plant called Salvinia molesta, also known as Giant Salvinia. The plant covers a large part of the swamp and will, in time, silt up the lake, lowering the depth of its water and eventually kill the lake.
Photographing the lake can be done from parts of its shore but the best way is to get out into the lake and the swamp with a canoe, kayak or by hiring a local guide with a pontoon boat. Our workshop spent two sunrises and two sunsets in the Big Cypress Bayou. During our boat rides we rode through passages and areas of swamp whose beauty rivaled most any landscape that I’ve seen. Scenes that included not just the beautiful and colorful Autumn cypress, but the birds who make it their home. The photos of the red and orange trees with a touch of white from an egret or families of ibis, another white bird who dwells in the branches of the trees, are striking.
I had heard stories and songs about the bayou country of the American South but experiencing it for myself gave me a completely different understanding of it all, and its people. The culture and history is evident there and is shared by those whose family’s heritage were a part of it through time. I hope that my photos will show those who have never been to such a place the beauty that is so hard to describe with words, and how the stereotypical views of a swamp should be reconsidered. While I was there, I was able to take some of the most beautiful landscape photos that I’ve ever made, and of that I’m completely certain.
