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Meet Navarre Beach’s Very Own Award-Winning Nature Photographer

You don’t look at Jeff Waldorff’s photos as much as live in them.

“I don’t want people to think they’re seeing a two-dimensional photo, just a print,” he says. “I want them to feel like they are there in the present, like they can even walk into the scene,” he says. “l want them to experience what I’m feeling. I want to convey to them the beauty of our area, whether it’s Navarre Beach, Gulf Islands National Seashore, or whatever.”

Waldorff succeeds on all counts. The acclaimed nature photographer has shot thousands of photos of his home area and nearby environs. He takes advantage of the endless beautiful places, scenes and creatures found in Florida’s Most Relaxing Place. Most of his photographs, beach landscapes in particular, will wash a wave of calm over you.

Along with his panoramic landscapes, Waldorff’s photography includes shots of jellyfish (underwater), birds (over water), crabs (on the sand) and plenty of sea turtles, which he captures both on the sand and in the waters of the Gulf. There’s even one of a sea turtle bearing down on a jellyfish, ready to turn it into a snack.

Waldorff’s catalogue also includes gorgeous shots of the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier, craggy trees in the mist, vividly colorful flowers sprouting from a bog, strangely shaped driftwood, cypress trees adorned with Spanish moss, and even snow falling (and sticking) on the beach.

Navarre Beach is prized for its sunsets, but Waldorff is more of a sunrise guy. “I’m usually up by 4 o’clock every morning, and the sunrise is much calmer,” he says. “Usually the wind is not blowing as much. You have way fewer people. There aren’t as many footprints in the sand, and it’s just a more relaxing time of day. Then the early morning sunlight, once it pops up, sculpts the landscape with light and shadows.”

To frame his panoramic shots, he says, “I use a wide-angle lens. I mean really wide. It allows me to take more storytelling-type photos that add context. I can get close to the subject in the foreground, but still capture the overall scene — for example, a crab in context with the scenery around it versus just focusing on the crab.”

Waldorff’s photography career began as a hobby. He worked for Micro Systems Inc. in Fort Walton Beach for three decades, rising to the position of director of software engineering. Needing an outlet to alleviate the stress from his job, he began photographing his natural surroundings with a mid-level Canon 30D DSLR digital camera. That quickly led to equipment upgrades.

To finance his hobby, he sold prints at local art shows — and much to his surprise, people bought them. Waldorff retired from his computer engineering career in 2017 to pursue photography full time. Along the way, he has accumulated an impressive list of awards, dating back to 2008. From 2015 to 2017, his work was published in the prestigious Landscape Photography Magazine.

Waldorff advises photography hobbyists to “get out early, before sunrise, and let the light come to you. Let the sun start to rise and you get that beautiful light. The Navarre Beach Fishing Pier is a great place to shoot because it gives great compositions, with lines that lead out into the Gulf.”

Not an early riser? No problem. Waldorff’s pictures prove that any time of day (or night) is a good time to point a camera in Florida’s Most Relaxing Place. He’s taken countless stunning photos of sunsets, too – thanks to the area’s location on Florida’s Panhandle that gives you unimpeded views of both sunrises and sunsets.

Regardless of the time of day or time of year, Jeff Waldorff never fails to capture the breathtaking natural beauty of Navarre Beach.

Photography courtesy of Jeff Waldorff of Waldorff Photography. His award-winning photography can be found here or follow him on Facebook.

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