Six Mile Cypress Slough

The Six mile Cypress Slough (pronounced ‘slew’) is located in Ft Myers Florida. A slough is a wetland that naturally purifies water as it flows slowly through it. It also is able to hold water to keep areas downstream from flooding in times of excessive rain. Six Mile was saved from rampant development during the building boom in 1970s by a group of college students. It is a very peaceful place with much to see and interpretive signs to keep non-photographers happy while you take photographs. There is a beautiful boardwalk to keep everyone’s feet dry. The first and last area that you see when entering and leaving the slough is the bald cypress forest. The white lichen covered branches really stand out from the brown trunks and burnt orange discarded leaves.

After the Bald Cypress forest, everything  is a jungle of green and brown. It is very tricky for a photographer to find a simple composition. In the photo below, I used the textures of the ferns with the repeated pattern of the trees to give a small flavor of the slough.