Where it Began

It has been less than a week since Filming Florida officially launched and so far so great!  Over the past few months, I  spent a lot of time thinking about where and how I was going to start Filming Florida.  Ultimately, I decided to start where it all began for me, on the west coast of Florida on a small barrier island called Little Gasparilla Island.  My family has been fortunate to co-own a beach house with a few other families on this small barrier island, only accessible by boat.  I can’t remember my first visit here as I was only 10 months old, but countless trips over the last 30 years has really shaped my passion for exploration and learning about the natural world.

I grew up here fishing with my dad and had an amazing amount of freedom to explore on my own, even from a very young age.  I think I was probably only eight or so when I was constantly wading around the dock with a net catching small fish, shrimp, crabs, and the occasional seahorse.  It was just a few years after that when I was driving around in a small skiff fishing and exploring by myself.  This really is the place where I fell in love with natural Florida and I can’t think of a better place to start the journey of Filming Florida.