Florida: Images of the Sunshine State

Alan Taylor
April 26, 2020
35 Photos
In Focus

Florida is the third-most-populous state in the nation, home to approximately 21.5 million people. It is also the only one of the 48 contiguous states with a tropical climate, in South Florida, home to thousands of species of plants and animals. Here are a few glimpses of the landscape of Florida and some of the wildlife and people calling it home.

An earlier version of this photo essay misidentified a building in St. Augustine. The caption has been corrected.

This photo story is part of Fifty, a collection of images from each of the United States.

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People watch as the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 2019, in Titusville, Florida. #

Joe Raedle / Getty

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A kayaker floats in Blue Cypress Lake in Florida's Indian River County. #

Robert H Ellis / Shutterstock

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A rider competes during the 71st annual Homestead Championship Rodeo, in Homestead, Florida, on January 26, 2020. #

YES Market Media / Shutterstock

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A snowy egret dives for fish in the late-afternoon light in the Babcock Wildlife Management Area, near Punta Gorda. #

Diana Robinson Photography / Getty

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A view of the historic Ponce de Leon Hotel, now part of Flagler College, as seen from St. Augustine's Lightner Museum. #

EB Adventure Photography / Shutterstock

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The sun rises on a hot morning at Fort Myers Beach on December 2, 2018. #

Adam Gray / Barcroft Media / Getty

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A sea-turtle hatchling swims alongside the 19th-century Fort Jefferson on Garden Key in Dry Tortugas National Park. #

National Park Service

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The Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge spans Tampa Bay. #

Dennis Macdonald / Getty

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Fans watch as cars race during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 59th Annual Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway on July 1, 2017, in Daytona Beach. #

Sarah Crabill / Getty

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A shrimp boat passes near St. George Island in the Gulf of Mexico. #

Leigh Trail / Shutterstock

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Condo buildings line the beach of Sunny Isle, Florida, on April 5, 2016. #

Joe Raedle / Getty

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A housing development built in the Everglades wetlands is seen from the air near Naples, Florida, on October 24, 2019. #

Robert F. Bukaty / AP

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A competitor races in the annual Offshore Powerboat World Championships in Key West on November 8, 2018. #

Chuck Wagner / Shutterstock

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A flock of black skimmers in flight, photographed in Fort Myers Beach #

Vicki Jauron, Babylon and Beyond Photography / Getty

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The Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative’s mill processes sugarcane at dawn in Belle Glade, Florida, near Lake Okeechobee, on November 1, 2019. The mill operates 24 hours a day during the harvest season, grinding as much as 26,000 tons of sugarcane a day. #

Robert F. Bukaty / AP

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Bottlenose dolphins play while swimming behind a boat near Sanibel Island. #

Tory Kallman / Shutterstock

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Art deco–designed buildings line Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, photographed on January 7, 2008. #

Lynne Sladky / AP

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Competitors race during the Sailing World Cup Miami 2016 on January 29, 2016, in Key Biscayne. #

Mike Ehrmann / Getty

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Native cypress trees, habitat for rookeries and a variety of Everglades wildlife, are overgrown with Old World climbing fern in the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Palm Beach County. #

CC BY-ND South Florida Water Management District

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A Florida panther, photographed in Everglades National Park. In 2017, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that between 120 and 230 adult Florida panthers remained in the wild. #

Rodney Cammauf / National Park Service

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A view down Pensacola Beach on the Gulf Coast barrier island of Santa Rosa #

Andrew Zarivny / Shutterstock

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A young manatee swims in Three Sisters Springs, in the Crystal River in Citrus County. #

Ai Angel Gentel / Getty

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In this October 22, 2019, photo, tour guide Gianni Magrini pilots an airboat across a sawgrass marsh in Everglades National Park. #

Robert F. Bukaty / AP

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Fireworks erupt above Hogwarts Castle, part of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction, at Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando. #

Alberta Seddon / Shutterstock

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A rider herds cattle during the Great Florida Cattle Drive 2016, in Kenansville, Florida, on January 26, 2016. The purpose of the once-a-decade drive was to draw attention to Florida’s deep cowboy history. #

Wilfredo Lee / AP

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A view of the Jupiter Inlet Light in Palm Beach County #

Lucky-photographer / Shutterstock

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A lone pink flamingo is seen as it walks along Haulover Park on May 17, 2018, in Miami Beach. Lifeguards on the beach said that the flamingo showed up several days earlier, and had been hanging around since. Biologists said that it was unusual for the flamingo to fly solo and that they were keeping an eye on the bird in case it became distressed. #

Joe Raedle / Getty

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People ride bicycles on a sunny day in Old Town, Key West. #

Roberto Michel / Shutterstock

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A white-tailed deer runs through wetlands in the Florida Everglades. #

CC BY-ND South Florida Water Management District

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The Florida Gators band heads to the field before the start of a game against the Auburn Tigers at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville on October 5, 2019. #

James Gilbert / Getty

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The Be Stage during day two of the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival at Sunshine Grove in Okeechobee, Florida, on March 6, 2020. #

Jason Koerner / Getty

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Lightning leaps from a thunderhead over the Atlantic Ocean near Palm Beach on September 4, 2015. #

Jason Weingart / Barcroft Media / Getty

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A man watches fish and sharks swim at the Frost Museum of Science on November 27, 2019, in Miami. #

Ludovic Marin / AFP / Getty

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The skyline of Jacksonville, seen at night on July 9, 2016 #

Joe Daniel Price / Getty

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People wade in the ocean at Robert K. Rees Memorial Park as the sun sets over the Gulf of Mexico in New Port Richey, Florida, on April 21, 2017. #

Gary Hershorn / Getty

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