Photography feature: Beth Switzer

The Panhandle has been my home for most of my life and the older I get, the more fun I have looking at – and photographing – it in  an “up close and personal” manner.

There is great fun in “really seeing” something for the first time and being surprised by just how beautiful it is.

-Beth Switzer

The slideshow above was photographed by Beth at Alligator Point, not too far from where David Kimbro is studying oyster reefs, and many of the photos are of salt marshes, such as those studied by Randall Hughes.  So I knew when I saw them that they would be a great fit for this site.

You may know Beth Switzer as Executive Director and on camera personality at The Florida Channel, and before that on WFSU-TV.  I was surprised, after years of watching and occasionally working with her, to discover that she liked to photograph nature.  What’s not surprising is that she has forged a connection with the natural splendor of our area.  Those of us working in broadcasting in the panhandle end up seeing a lot of the area, and meeting a lot of the people.  It’s impossible to work in TV here and not love it here.

We’re two months into “In the Grass, On the Reef,” and so far the winds have been kind to Randall and David’s sites in St. Joseph Bay an Alligator Harbor.  When Deepwater Horizon exploded, we stepped up production on the project thinking that oil would arrive at any moment, and that we should get as much footage as we could before it hit.  Now, the more I go to these places, the less I think about oil while I’m there.  I hear about it on the radio as I’m driving to and from the shoots, but then I’m walking in water, planting my tripod in mud to get a steady shot of a periwinkle climbing a blade of cordgrass, or trying to see through my lens a stone crab that looks only slightly different than the oysters surrounding it.  In those moments, it just doesn’t feel like it will happen.  I know it will most likely happen, but it never feels like it will.

One of the pleasant developments of doing this has been having artist features like the one above.  So far we have had photographers and musicians, and we are talking to some writers as well.  We want to hear from artists in any medium who depict or are inspired by the coastal habitats of the Forgotten Coast.  Photographers, painters, musicians, writers:  share your art with us!  You can e-mail us at outloud@wfsu.org.

And, as always, comments and questions are welcome.