It was a long weekend from school. My roommates and I were so excited! We had rented a beach house in Destin, Florida and being that Destin photography was our major course of study, we packed up our camera gear and were ready to explore this beauty for ourselves that we had marveled at on television and in books.

As we came off I-10 toward Ft. Walton Beach, we knew the type of experience we would soon have. It was like being back in time to a simpler life in the old days of Florida. We took photographs of fishing shacks and houses that seemed to have been there forever.

We were then on the most beautiful stretch of beach I had ever seen. Immediately I knew why this was called the Emerald Coast.
The beaches had the whitest sand that looked like grains of sugar! I have been to other parts of the state, to other beaches, but none so hypnotizing. It felt like it only belonged to me and my friends. It was clean and unspoiled and devoid of crowds. The waters were blue-green with gentle surf, and we found them a pleasure to photograph.

 Could this really be as good as all the pictures by the famous photographers in all those magazines?
The photographers we learned so much from in our class? It was all that and more. The next few days we spent relaxing, taking plenty of photographs of course. We learned how to use underwater cameras in some of the clearest waters I have ever gazed in. The wildlife beneath the Gulf was as colorful and unique as on dry land. We spent our evenings using our tripods taking dramatic photographs on brilliant sunsets and feasting on some of the freshest seafood around.

 We all took some of the best work we ever did back to school with us from this trip. Other classmates were amazed at our photographs, and we encouraged them all to take a trip and see Destin for themselves.