This photograph is from Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area, near Florida's Lake Okeechobee. This is on the trail to Memorial Tree, taken on my return. As the dawn light became a bit more powerful, it began to filter through the trees more, casting a beautiful golden glow across the landscape. To me, this is a perfect example of a Florida forest. They truly have a unique beauty all their own. The mixture of sabal palmetto, bald cypress, and live oak (among others) gives the woods a distinctly primeval feel. And when the sun rises, the dense grassy undergrowth covered in dew is almost as bright as the morning sky.

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Most palm trees grow straight up. That includes the Cabbage Palm, the type of palm tree featured in this photograph. So when you see one with a significant bend, it's usually because it fell or leaned during a storm. If the tree makes it through the trauma, it then starts growing straight upwards again. It's crazy to think about what this old cabbage palm, which I found in the Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area near Palmdale Florida, has been through. I can't even recreate in my mind how many storms had tossed the tree over the years, and in which directions. This tree has definitely seen some stuff, that's for sure! And these palms grow very slowly, so this could have been going on over centuries!

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This photograph's title is admittedly a little bit silly. The "White Watcher" of the title refers to the Sabal Palm in the foreground. I was scrambling around Mizell-Johnson State Park, trying to find the right foreground to frame the dramatic sunset, when I saw this tree. For some reason, the tree instantly struck me as having a human quality to it. It's pale fronds reminded me of someone's hair starting to turn white at the tips and temples. In reality, this is caused by nutrient deficiency - probably magnesium or potassium. It's a common occurrence when palm trees grow in soil that is too sandy. But nonetheless, the tree looked to me like a haggard old soul, who has watched this same sunset for years and years. In fact, due also to the sandy soil, it's possible that this tree may be quite old indeed. While well equipped to handle poor soil, it does cause Sabal Palms to grow incredibly slowly.

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This photograph was taken in a lush jungle of Costa Rica. The dense tropical rain forest here is so dense, and so full of life! From a photograph like this, it may seem like the forest is lacking in animal life. Obviously, this couldn't be further from the truth. If this were an audio recording, you would hear an endless cacophony of birds, bugs, and monkeys howling. If it were a video recording, the view would be constantly complicated by birds whizzing across the frame, and fronds shaking from where one recently alit. But there's beauty in seeing this view as a still frame, too. It changes the scene from a study in biodiversity to a study in flora. I didn't even really get a chance to take note of all the plants until editing this photograph later. I love all the types of palms and ferns that you keep noticing the more you investigate. Even more, I love the vigor of all the plants. It's all completely, unabashedly green - no signs of anything but total health.

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"Not a cloud in the sky" is not a phrase heard very often here on Miami's Key Biscayne beach. Especially not at midday in summer. There is simply too much heat and too much water, so it is inevitably raining somewhere. But that is a trait of the tropics which one comes to love – storms dotting the horizon like scattered jewels. These storms don't ruin the day of any beachgoers. They often stay far off shore, like in this picture, adding to the beauty of the landscape. And if they do come ashore, they are but brief showers - an excuse to grab a quick drink, and to come back to cooler sand.

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