.... I had a chance to slip out with my camera. Ive missed the forum for over a week now, so Ill have to catch up. I took these while gone. They are at/near the shore of the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico. The 3 lake pictures are actually less than a mile from the shoreline, and you can often hear the surf from where they were taken. An almost even mixture of water and land.

And you must be careful. Im told there are more alligators in the area than people (except in the darn tourist areas).

The pine trees on the left are leaning that way from all the hurricanes that often blow in from the Gulf.

And of course, I had to make it down to the Gulf itself. Tourists and all. Come to think of it, I guess I was one of them anyway. Hope you like - glad to be back too!

Cool Shots!!!! Gotta love that sign in pic #2!!! Who the hell would wanna AGGRAVATE a GATOR!!!! L8r!

These are kewl! I love pic # 2. Hehehehe... :-) (*

Steve Irwin, a manic sunstroked Ozzie who presents the popular Animal Planet show here in the UK, whould say "Look how aggravated the gator is, as I poke him in the eye with a stick" LOL :o) cough!! ah maybe if you seen the show Great photos BTW

LOL....actually Azy he's quite popular here too...I love him...as well as that other guy Jeff Corbin, who does that other nature show on Animal Planet... But back to the images...these are great shots Marshall...but I can't help but wonder who would want to stand there fishing with gators in the vicinity...

Actually, the gators try to stay away from people, but there's always some jerkazoid who when spotting a gator, will try to throw rocks and sticks at it. As more and more people hang out at any given location, the gators head back to deeper swamp.

Freelance? I wish! But so far, it seems that I'm the only one (and maybe a family member or two) who sees any real value in my photography. But hey, that's OK.