There are several places in landscape photography that every photographer should visit. The towering walls of Yosemite, rhododendron blooms in the redwoods, sandstone cathedrals of southern Utah, or golden aspens as far as the eye can see in Colorado. These are places where beauty meets inspiration, locations that have captivated landscape photographers for generations. One of these spots that has been getting more and more attention over the last few years is the cypress swamps of east Texas. The swamps here are a visual playground where photographers can stretch their creativity. As November rolls around, the trees turn varying shades of red and orange adding to the magic of the bayou. It is easy to understand why this has become an increasingly popular location for serious photographers.

This year I made the migration to the southeast to photograph this mystical landscape. I was joined by fellow guide Jon Resnick and two groups of guests ready to explore the bayou. After meeting our guests in Shreveport Louisiana, we were up dark and early making our way over to Caddo Lake for the sunrise. We met our boat driver for the week and loaded into our pontoon boat, ready to explore. These pontoon boats would turn out to be very useful to our groups over the coming days. Not only do we have plenty of room to spread out, but they give you the chance to move around and fine-tune your composition. As we crept through the narrow channels in the pre-dawn light, we could just make out the outlines of the bald cypress trees covered in Spanish moss. The excitement was palpable!

On our first morning, the sky erupted in a fiery sunrise. Shutters were flying as we captured the silhouetted trees against the sky. After the color faded, we worked our way around the lake as our boat driver, Mike, told us some of the history of the lake. Caddo Lake is the second largest lake in the south and one of the few naturally forming lakes in Texas. It also boasts one of the largest flooded cypress forests in the US. Despite the size of the lake, it is very shallow, averaging only 8 to 10 feet deep. The shallow waters provide a perfect environment for the bald cypress tree. The trees are a bit unique in that they are a deciduous conifer. They grow needles and cones but unlike a lot of other conifers, they lose their needles over the winter and regrow them in the spring. The ecosystem of Caddo Lake is as fascinating as it is beautiful.

After our boat trip, we established our home base in Marshall Texas for the remainder of the trip. Each morning and afternoon we would make our way north to our boats for sessions on the lake. From a photography perspective, we found lots to keep us busy. There are sections of the lake that are a narrow maze of cypress trees, these spots make it feel like you are standing in a forest and not floating on a lake. Conversely, we photographed areas in the open water of the lake where single trees stood out like lone sentinels. We chased the color across the lake, some trees yellow, some rust orange, and others vibrant red. As the trip went on, we concluded that we had hit absolute peak color on the lake.

In addition to all the beautiful landscapes, there is a host of wildlife that calls Caddo Lake home. It is a thriving habitat for many different species of birds and we were able to see and photograph bald eagles, osprey, cormorants, kingfishers, and more. The two birds that were our most frequent targets were the great blue heron and the great egret. These two beautiful birds are common throughout the lake and can really add an extra element to your images. We were always on the lookout for one of these birds conveniently perched on a cypress tree. They also spend a lot of time sitting on the pillars marking the boat road throughout the lake. This was good for us as it provided many opportunities to get shots of them in flight when they would take off. The best part was if you messed up the shot, there was surely another bird sitting on a post a few hundred yards away to try again with.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our time off of the pontoon boats exploring the small towns around Caddo Lake. We eat well on this trip, patronizing some of the best restaurants in the small towns of Jefferson and Marshall. From the Texan-sized BBQ of Bear Creek Smokehouse to the historic downtown hotel that now houses the fine dining of The Ginocchio, we never lacked for good food in cool places. One guest declared the pizza at one of the restaurants in Marshall was the best she had ever had and it was hard to disagree.

The first week, we experienced the swamps in nice sunlight, always providing the necessary backlight and sidelight we were after. The second week had a lot more overcast skies. We, of course, adjusted and focused on scenes that would work best in soft, quiet light. Our guests were quite productive during this time, but we all acknowledged it would be nice to see some light. On our last night we went out exploring the open parts of the lake. There were a few gaps in the clouds, but nothing that made us overly optimistic. Regardless, we were determined to stick it out for sunset, just in case the sun broke through the clouds. We floated peacefully as our boat driver entertained us with stories from the swamps. Eventually, I looked back over my shoulder and saw something I hadn’t seen in a few days.. sunlight! We quickly got into position and were able to photograph a dramatic and colorful sunset over a strand of cypress trees. It was an amazing moment and an incredible way to end the trip! Dinner tasted a little better than night as we reminisced about our wonderful time in the cypress swamps of Caddo Lake.