Old Magnolia Road, A Canopied Country Road Near Tallahassee
Old Magnolia Road is a canopied country road near Tallahassee, Florida. It is a lightly-traveled road that runs north-south on the west side of Lake Miccosukee (to the east of Tallahassee proper) and connects Mahan Drive/Highway 90 on the south end to T S Green Road/Highway 142 on the north end.
Parts of Old Magnolia Road are paved and parts remain an unpaved, country road. The unpaved sections of the road are etched down into the Red Hills clay, leaving, in some places, high banks of exposed clay, roots, and foliage.
Old Magnolia Road was a path for plantations in the area to transport their cotton to market and may have originally been a Native American footpath, as many country roads near Tallahassee once were.
Miccosukee, Florida - Former Capital of the State of Muskogee
The north end of Old Magnolia Road passes near Miccosukee, Florida. Miccosukee is a historical community that was once a major center of the Miccosukee tribe of Native Americans (part of the Seminole nation). At one time, it was the capital of the short-lived State of Muskogee.
The Making of the Old Magnolia Road 2 Image
I photographed this same area of Old Magnolia Road in the early spring, before the new greenery had filled out. I wanted to return to the area to visually capture the vast differences in the same scene between early spring and late spring.
This time, instead of a great variation of greens and yellows from the end of pollination and the beginning of new growth, everything was a more uniform green. The canopy was much fuller, the woods and foliage were much thicker.
While some independent branches were still apparent, most of the scene became more about the full trees and their abundant leaves than individual branches. The entire scene was much more verdant than before.
It was easy to set up for this shot, as I already knew the location and could generally remember how I set up before. As I was wanting to compare the same scene months apart, the hardest part was trying to match compositions as closely as possible, though an exact match would be both unnecessary and likely impossible.
The lighting this evening was more even than the golden hour lighting I was barely able to squeeze in the time before. Though the light was softer and more even, the canopy shaded some areas more than others, creating subtle contrast. Further down the road, a thinner canopy overhead allowed in more light, creating a brighter area.
In the final image, this brighter area at the lower center of the scene draws one’s eyes down the straight, clay road, as though the viewer was taking a relaxing drive under the canopy, down the country road, continuing beyond where it disappears over the knoll.