Join us for a year-long celebration of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary's 70th birthday! We're excited to announce a new photography exhibit in the Cypress Café from our 2024 photographers in residence: Lisette Morales McCabe, Zeida Cecilia-Mendez, and R J Wiley.
Lisette Morales McCabe
Lisette Morales McCabe is a photographer, artist, and healing arts advocate. Originally from Nicaragua, she has resided in Florida since 2000. During this time, she has channeled her creative energy into documenting the natural splendor found in South Florida. Simultaneously, she’s interested in the intricate interplay between the land, personal identity, ecology, storytelling, and the diverse perspectives prevalent among local communities.
We sat down with Lisette to ask some deeper questions about her interest in photography. Read that interview here.
Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, PBS Native America Season 2, NPR, Greenpeace USA, Tampa Bay Times, Univision, Neapolitan Family Magazine, The News-Press, El Café Latino Magazine, Bloomberg Businessnews and Revista The Harvard Review of Latin America. She’s a member of Diversify Photo, The Authority Collective, WOPHA, and Voices of the River of Grass.
Zeida Cecilia-Mendez
Started as a hobby, photography became a growing passion for film & TV director Zeida Cecilia-Mendez, whose work as promotions and creative director for Ch.23/Univision won her three Emmys for her unique “behind the camera” perspective. A graduate of the prestigious New York Institute of Photography, Zeida specializes in nature and wildlife photography, highlighting Florida’s special kind of beauty, the immortal Everglades, and the oceans and rivers that surround us.
“With my camera, I can tell a story, reveal a hidden treasure, capture a moment in time, share my special vision, and bring a little piece of the outdoors, inside,” says Zeida.
Her photographs have won awards from the Florida Camera Club Council and are regularly included in highly competitive forums like Viewbug and Your Shot Nat Geo. Her images are printed on Premium FineArt PhotoMetallic paper or face-mounted on TruLife museum quality acrylic overlays and back-mounted on aluminum plates. The prints acquire a brilliance that makes each one a special work of art.
Rod "R J" Wiley
R J Wiley is a professional nature photographer. His work has been published in many publications including, Audubon Magazine, The Florida Naturalist, Gulf Shore Life Magazine, Bird Watching Magazine, Shutterbug Magazine, and used by National Geographic to name a few. His work on the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary's unique Ghost Orchid has been published all over the world, including Russia and London. In 2011, he was presented with Audubon Florida's Photographer of the Year award.
R J specializes in birds and landscapes as well as high-definition, aerial photography. The style of images he creates is high resolution with little grain. A lot of time is spent waiting for the animal to relax and make contact with the camera. Spending months on a single project, he will learn their habits, which in turn makes predicting what they are going to do an asset. The goal is to capture the spirit of the animal, that thing that makes it unique and proud.
"I think what makes a good photographer is not so much his gear, whether it's Nikon or Canon, but more the photographer's persistence to getting the perfect image," says R J.
R J not only captures the image, but he’s also able to turn the image around from capture to print in just a few hours, using high-end printers and paper. This enables the Nature Store at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary to have the latest happenings available in print as they are unfolding.
