The power of a photograph
After suffering dozens of photo session cancellations, Hollie Tiner Agapi, owner of Hollie T Photography, decided she’d do something.
She picked up her camera and got two willing volunteers – Ricky and Lacey Mendoza, a newlywed couple who she’d photographed recently – and hit the beach.
In a poignant photo series on Lovers Key, Agapi depicts the Mendozas as any other happy couple getting their engagement or wedding photos. Except, instead of smiles, they’re wearing face masks.
And instead of beautiful beaches, they’re walking amongst red tide victims.
“We didn’t have to go looking,” she said. “We hardly even walked the beach. They were everywhere.”
Using gloves, Agapi, her husband and the Mendozas arranged fish carcasses into a heart, and the letters “FL.” Agapi said the fish were crawling in maggots on Saturday.
“We wore masks for the shoot, and just to be there,” she said. “Lovers Key was always clear and beautiful. Now, it’s a completely different world.”
The resulting images are touching – and have been shared hundreds of times on social media.
Agapi is a Fort Myers native, and no stranger to red tide.
“I’m proud of my heritage and the stories and traditions that have been passed down,” she said.
She has her captain’s license and spent 10 years working on the water before turning photography into her full-time pursuit. She grew up hearing her grandfather’s stories about the water, including red tide,
but what sticks out now are his descriptions of Estero Bay: clear waters, filled with seagrass beds hiding thousands of scallops. Healthy oyster beds and huge schools of snook and redfish.
“The stories he told always seemed like more of fantasy than reality, the bay he described is not one I could recognize,” she said.
Agapi’s no stranger to red tide, but said she doesn’t remember a marine kill this bad.
Between red tide and cyanobacteria, she said she’s concerned not only for the huge loss of marine life but also the long-term effects on the ecological system.
“This is why I decided to do the photo shoot. I don’t want this to be our future and I wanted to open a door for conversation and bring more awareness to this issue,” Agapi said. “I would love to see Florida preserved and restored as much as possible to its natural flow. I am a hunter, fisher and wildlife enthusiast and I hope that “Real Florida” and it’s natural beauty is something that I get to share with my children one day.”