Ever think you're a committed photographer, dedicated to your craft? You wake up in the wee hours of the morning, trek your heavy equipment out to remote locations, survive a mosquito bite or two, a cold breeze or three. Well, you may change your tune about your commitment when you read this story. Wildlife photographer Greg du Toit has set the bar, well, beyond the clouds.

While taking photos of lions in Kenya's Rift Valley, he actually submerged himself in a watering hole for three months. You read that correctly. Three hours a day, seven days a week for THREE months. He got incredible images of lions, warthogs and more.....and a bunch of diseases that nearly killed him. Committed, yes. And maybe in many senses of the word.

I have to admit that hearing the alarm go off for an early morning shoot isn't always easy, even when you know that you'll be rewarded by the solitude of a world just waking up. Almost every early rise is worth the effort, but some provide that little cherry on top that life throws your way every so often. Last Wednesday was one of those mornings for me.

I dragged myself out of bed at 5:45 am, on vacation no less, to make an early morning visit to Botany Bay, a 4,700 acre refuge on Edisto Island in South Carolina where two plantations once stood. In the pre-dawn glow, I made my way down the long dirt road to the entrance through tunnels of live oaks and spanish moss.

After about ten minutes of winding and weaving though maritime forests and marshes, intermixed with fields of summer corn, I made it to the parking area for the beach walk just as the sun was peeking over the horizon. I parked, lathered myself up with bug spray and sunscreen and began down the path to the beach crossing some of the most expansive marsh I've ever seen. Imagine miles and miles of vibrant green marsh grasses bisected by tidal guts filled with scurrying fiddler crabs and oysters exposed by a low tide.

I continued down the path into a small section of forest so thick and lush that I could have just as easily been in a Hawaiian tropical rainforest instead of South Carolina. I observed a great egret perched high up on the branch of a tree, preening itself. Off to each side of the trail and overhead were spiderwebs with golden-silk spiders. Eventually, I emerged onto a undeveloped, wide white sand beach covered with thousands and thousands of shells. This was reward enough for getting out of bed early, right? Things got better.

As I started hiking up the coastline, I noticed a group of people just up ahead occupied by something on the sand. As I got closer, I began to realize that I was about to observe one of nature's rare gifts - sea turtle hatchlings making the trek from their nest out into the ocean. Five small loggerhead turtles slowly inched down the beach towards the surf. Typically, this journey can be full of many dangers from predators such as shorebirds, foxes and racoons who are looking for an easy meal to impediments such as deep trenches from tire tracks. These five turtles were lucky to have a group of guardians to watch over them.

Eventually, the turtles made it to the surf and slipped away one by one into the sea. I wish them the very best on their continued journey. With a lot of luck, some will make it back to Botany Bay one day to lay eggs. The odds are heavily stacked against them. Seeing their struggle, which only begins with this perilous beach crossing, made me appreciate just how easy we (humans) have it. Getting up early? Well, it's really no hardship after all.

Note: many kudos to the legions of folks, mostly volunteers, that get up early morning after morning to check on nests and help these little guys safely make their way to the ocean.

I (finally) just added a bunch of photos - some of which are from photo shoots last year. They include shots of the Wednesday night races in Annapolis, my annual trip to Chincoteague and various other individual shots.

I hope to do a better job of staying on top of adding new images from here forward. Keep checking back for new additions.

There's an interesting article in the latest issue of Photofocus Magazine titled "Protect Your Rights Or Lose Them". It talks about how the rights of photographers are being challenged, whether it be shooting photos of stunning scenery at a National Park or simply taking photos of a bridge somewhere. Is this really happening? In fact, it is and not only at a national level, but worldwide. But the real question is "why?".

In my opinion, there are really two big reasons that stand above the rest. The first reason is the most obvious - because of the tragic events of 9/11, nearly every facet of our society has changed. It means the simple process of shooting photos of bridges, many of which are our nation's most incredible architectural feats, has somehow become a threat to our national security.

In the Chesapeake Bay region alone, I know of two photographers who have run into situations where they've been surrounded by authorities and questioned or had their film confiscated. One of the two was Peter Essick, who was shooting a series for National Geographic's Chesapeake Bay issue. He was actually held by authorities for a while and had his film taken for six weeks. As he mentions in a quip on the National Geographic website "people take pictures of these bridges all the time while driving by in their cars and boats. But once you stop and pull out a tripod, then suddenly the circumstances change, and you need special permission." This is a great point.

The second main reason is because of the unethical behavior of a few clueless photographers. Their misdeeds range from approaching wildlife too closely to crossing boundaries to disrupting natural settings - all in effort to grab a certain shot. It's because of their actions that many parks and refuges have begun implementing policies that govern all of us - even those of us who are very interested in following the rules.

While some rules do get broken unknowingly, in most cases the person knows better. And if you've taken photos for any period of time, you've undoubtedly seen your share of these types. One I encountered in Utah a few years back was out in the middle of the fragile cryptobiotic soil with his tripod set up shooting away. I honestly wanted to throttle him.

So, with these two issues facing the photography community, what are we left to do? For one, as Scott Bourne in the Photofocus article mentions - know your rights as a citizen - and be prepared to stand up for them. He goes on to mention boycotting certain parks that limit photographers rights. That's a personal decision - and one I'm not commenting on. However, while I understand the need to be cautious (in this age of terrorism) and to bolster rules at natural areas, I often wonder where the line should be drawn. In the case of terrorism, much of what is governed as suspicious is innocent. My feeling is that we'll be dealing with this raised level of scrutiny for some time yet to come.

As for the issue of unethical behavior, there's a lot each of us can do - ranging from knowing the rules of the park or refuge you're visiting and being mindful of them to educating other fellow photographers. As the common phrase goes - all it takes is a few bad eggs to spoil the bunch. For more about this topic, read Dean Chriss's excellent article titled "Nature Photography Ethics in the Field".