The Okefenokee Swamp is often associated with cypress trees and Spanish moss, but the ecosystem also includes vast prairies.
The Okefenokee Swamp is often associated with cypress trees and Spanish moss, but the ecosystem also includes vast prairies.
To David Walter Banks, there’s something special about the Okefenokee Swamp, the largest blackwater swamp in North America.
There’s a mystical quality, the photographer says, that’s hard to explain to someone who’s never been there before.
“It's this spiritual, metaphysical presence,” he said. “Time and time again, people that go there explain that’s it's just magical. It touches people's lives when they enter the space and spend time there.”
Over the past three years, Banks has spent nearly 70 nights alone in the swamp, which stretches more than 400,000 acres from southern Georgia to northern Florida. He would stay there a few days at a time, camping on the islands or just elevated wooden platforms.
His days would consist of paddling on a boat and “doing the best I could to be completely present in the moment,” he said.
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