In August of 2003, I visited Canaveral National Seashore for an afternoon. While in the parking lot of the visitor center, I saw a female lifeguard working there for the summer approach the center to find a biologist. She had found a loggerhead sea turtle hatchling struggling in the surf after emerging from its nest in the middle of the night and she was carrying it to safety in a pool towel. At the direction of the biologist, she set the hatchling in the lagoon behind the visitor center to regain its strength to try to fight past the surf again. I watched it as it tread water for several minutes, then started off up the river to attempt to go out into the ocean again.

I didn't have my camera with me, which was my grave misfortune. A friend gamely posed for me these years later to recreate the scene. She is a graduate student at the University of Florida, in the field of chemistry.

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Title: The Lifeguard, 30 x 40 inches

Completed September, 2006

Price: $850

Paper prints (13 x 19 in.): $55.00

Giclee on canvas prints (30 x 40 in): $200.00

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