This is one of the “big boys” we encountered along the 11-mile Jane’s Memorial Scenic Drive. The bigger the alligators the more confident they were in holding their ground as you approached. This one was an easy 9-10 feet long.
At one point I was no more than 6-8 feet distance taking photos out the drivers side window — this second photo was taken at 46mm and hasn’t been cropped.
I like both images but the top one has so much more feeling in it due to the blur of motion. 9-10 foot alligator is plenty big enough. I probably would have shot all the images from the car. LOL
Monte, my opinion of these two images matches yours. I included the second image of this gator more to provide a reference point for size. When out of the vehicle I was certainly shooting at the longer range of the lens. ;-)
I can imagine the tension of getting very close to one of the alligators who can move with such speed when they want to. Very nice close in photography.
don, it was exciting to say the least but I was very careful about giving them space and not surprising them. I never felt they were aggressive but I knew they would react if threatened.
Earl, I’m enjoying the your series on the alligators. They are such an enigma to humans. Ancient, cunning, powerful, dangerous. We don’t quite know what to make of them, do we?
(Well, there were the gator nuggets I had during my own trip to florida a couple years ago, but that’s another story…:-)
Eric, thanks and glad you’ve enjoyed this series. I’ve never had gator nuggets but wouldn’t mind at least tasting them, although I’d prefer them alive and in the wild. ;-)