At home in Augusta, Georgia as I wash my face before bed, I can smell the unpleasant scent of chlorine in our city water. And on some mornings when the air is blowing into town from the Southside, I can smell the meat-packing plant and other industrial odors. A noisy car roars by my house with its modified tailpipes. Overpowering the gentle natural sounds of birds as the noise raises my blood pressure and puts me into stress mode. 
And the more I go into the Okefenokee, the more I realize just how far off we are. For within the Okefenokee the air is pure and clean. It contains the perfume of leaves, blooming flowers, and peat. The water is safe to drink and is from the heavens above and not a sewage treatment plant. There are no sounds of cars and very few jets above to distract. There are elders here. Cypress trees that had been spared from the saw and have lived to be upwards of 1,000 years. The swamp is ever-changing, just like our earth. Just like us. It is a giant, encompassing, living being, made up of other living beings. 
The peat under the surface of the water rises due to the gas of decomposing materials. The gas pushes up rotting plants from the bottom. Up to the surface where this tiny mass is called a “blowup.” Next, as small grasses take root on top of this brown mass, it is known as a “battery.” As the mass evolves closer and closer to a small island and small trees start growing on the surface, it is called a “hammock” or “house.” And finally, when it is large enough to support adult trees and other plants, it is called a “dome.”
But don’t think for a minute that just because cypress, ferns and grasses are growing here, that the area is stable. On the contrary! One step will make you aware that you are on a floating, buoyant mass, but not one that is anchored by soil or earth. Hence the name Okefenokee, as coined by the Native Americans who once lived here, which roughly translated means “trembling earth”. 
Fire is a natural part of this planet. When lightning hits a tree during dry periods in the swamp, the Spanish moss catches fire and the trees burn. Eventually, opening up the woods into a prairie again. And then, the entire process starts all over. 
Within this ever-evolving ecosystem, we can witness life changing just like it has done for millennia. It is part of a cycle just like the turning of the earth, the ebb and flow of tides, and the changing from day to night. Everything has a counterpoint…an opposite and it all works together as part of a magnificent plan which is so brilliant, so amazing it gives us all pause. If I am in the prairie at the Okefenokee, I can look into the tannin-colored water and see life in every glance. It is teeming with life. And every time I am here, I feel more connected to this place. I feel like a parent wanting to protect my child. But more so, like a child in the arms of a loving parent, wanting to gift me with knowledge if I’d only listen. 
 
The Sacred Waters of the Okefenokee is a 104 page, hardcover testament to my experiences within the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Throughout the book, my attempt is to take the viewer to this magical and mystical place. To show through the lens of my camera in black-and-white photography created within a darkroom, the beauty of this very special place.