Face-to-Face With Wildlife in Florida’s Hidden Wilderness | Best Job Ever

When you swim into one of these Springs and then a manatee comes around the corner, it's like everything slows down and takes a breath. It sometimes will swim right up to you; you can count the whiskers on its face or see the propeller marks on its back. It's about 20, man, right down here.

I'm an eighth generation Floridian. I still feel like I'm connected to the Florida from the 1800s through the stories of my grandparents and great-grandparents, and I feel a responsibility for the future of Florida because of my heritage and connection.

Here, it's your leg just not soft down here. The Florida Wildlife Corridor Expeditions were not an arbitrary walk in the woods. We were following the paths of wildlife as determined by the latest research, trying to bring attention to the corridors that wildlife need to move from one place to another.

"Oh, he's going to crush your camera, dude!" Oh gosh, look at those spots! So beautiful, gorgeous, gorgeous fish.

I really hope to keep my feet dry on the trail today, but I really don't think that's going to happen. I think in all of its identity as a tourist destination, as a place of amusement parks, as a place of beaches, the identity of the Heart of Florida really gets lost.

So awesome, but it's still here and it's still beating. Absolutely amazing to be here. I don't think very many people know this place exists.

You don't have to go on a thousand-mile expedition to be a conservation photographer. You can find a place that you love right in your own backyard. Go out, photograph it, share it, tell its story, and you'll be surprised at the amount of change you can help create.