Hello and welcome to the Orlando Camera Club web site. We are glad you found us!
Over the past few months, the Club Officers have received several emails requesting information about the Orlando area, best places to shoot, area camera stores, etc. We hope this page answers some of your questions and helps you with your photographic needs while in the Orlando area. If not, feel free to contact any of the officers for more information.
Camera Stores
Colonial Photo and Hobby
634 North Mills Avenue (Highway 17-92). The store is located about 2 miles east of I-4 and a half block south of Colonial Drive (Route 50). For a map, go to our Sponsors Page and click the Colonial Photo and Hobby logo.
Telephone: 407-841-1485.
Hours: Mon - Thurs 9:00 am to 7:30 pm; Fri 9:00 am to 9:00 pm; Sat 9:00 am to 6:00 pm
Harmon Photo
Located on South Orange Avenue about a half mile south of Princeton Street. Another Sponsor of the Orlando Camera Club.
Camera Repair
Southern Photo Technical Services
606 Virginia Dr.,
Orlando, FL 32803
Telephone: 407-896-0322
Photo Opportunities
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Images from the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey |
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Images from Gatorland |
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Images from Leu Gardens |
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Images from Central Florida Zoo |
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Image from Merritt Island |
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Image from St. Augustine Alligator Farm |
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Images from Viera Wetlands |
Audubon Center for Birds of Prey
The Center is an urban environmental nature center that specializes in the rescue, medical care, rehabilitation and release of sick, injured and orphaned raptors (birds of prey).
More than 40 percent of over 700 annual patients are returned to the wild. Some 20 different species of raptors, which cannot be returned to the wild due to injuries, are used in conservation education programs. Audubon Center for Birds of Prey is a non-profit organization and relies on visitor admissions, and adoptions to support its work. Several birds (Eagle, Hawk, Owl etc.) are tethered outside the cage - great for head shots!
1101 Audubon Way,
Maitland, FL 32751
Telephone: 407-644-0190
Hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 10 am - 4 pm
Visit the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey website for more information.
Gatorland
Alligators aside, Gatorland has a boardwalk rookery with nesting Egrets, Ibis, Cormorants and other Florida birds. In several cases you have too much lens if you are using a 300mm. Go early and bring your tripod.
Gatorland is located at 4501 South Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, FL. 32837.
Telephone: 1-800-393-JAWS
Hours: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily
Entrance fee: $19.50
Visit the Gatorland website for more info.
Lukas Nursery
Lukas Nursery is located at the corner of Slavia Road and Route 426 in Oviedo Florida. This is a great location for shooting Florida Butterflies and flowers. Enter a place where education, butterfly farms, plants and people meet to experience the magic of these delicate, fluttering insects.
Tour the Butterfly Encounter Exhibit Buildings, an irresistible atmosphere of classical music, bubbling water and hundreds of flying butterflies and flowering plants. Leading into the butterfly farm where caterpillars and chrysalises live and hatch right before your eyes. Bring your tripod and flash, macro lens or 80-200 mm lens with an extension tube.
1909 Slavia Road, Oviedo Florida, 32765. 407-365-6163.
Hours: Monday - Saturday 8 am - 6 pm; Sunday 9 am - 5 pm.com/contact
Entrance fee: $7.00 (Butterfly Encounter only).
Visit the Lukas Nursery website for more information.
Leu Gardens
The Leu Gardens offer visitors a peaceful and relaxing spot to enjoy the beauty of nature. Guests can tread shaded paths and view large oak and camphor trees as well as roses, camellias and azaleas. The property also includes the Leu House Museum, a restored farmhouse. Be sure to visit the floral clock and the Orchid Conservatory before saying goodbye to these lovely gardens.
1920 North Forest Avenue, Orlando, FL 32803-1537.
Telephone: 407-246-2620
Entrance fee: $5:00
Hours: Daily 9 am to 5 pm
Visit the Leu Gardens website for more information.
Central Florida Zoo
Central Florida Zoological Park,
P.O. Box 470309,
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-0309.
Telephone: 407-323-4450nformation@centralfloridazoo.org
Entrance f ee: $8.95
Hours: Daily 9 am - 5 pm.
Visit the Central Florida Zoological Park website for more information.
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
MINWR is considered to be one of the best winter birding locations in the country. Located just East of Titusville, MINWR shares ground with the Kennedy Space Center. The Black Point Wildlife Drive is the premier location, but any of the dike roads are potentially good shooting locations. All roads are loops and eventually return to the main road. Over 250 species of birds have been sighted on MINWR.
The best time to visit is October through the end of March, when migrating birds are wintering there. MINWR is usually open daily from dawn to dusk. There will be closures during launch windows at Cape Kennedy.
From Titusville, take Route 406 east across the bridge and follow the signs.
St. Augustine Alligator Farm
The name aside, the Alligator Farm has one of the best rookeries around. The rookery is traversed by a boardwalk, which, in many instances, brings you within arms-length of nesting birds. Great location for seeing the behavior of nesting birds close up. Nesting there are Snowy, Cattle and Great Egrets, as well as Tricolored Herons and Wood Storks. There is a population of Night Herons, both Yellow-crowned and Black-crowned, which frequent the rookery, but usually leave with the rising sun. Also present are Roseate Spoonbills, Little Green Herons, Great Blue Herons.
Don’t forget the alligators and crocodiles. Virtually every species is represented there.
The Alligator Farm is open from 9-5 daily. It is located east of St. Augustine on US A1A, near the lighthouse. Annual photo passes are available and give the photographer the opportunity to get in early and stay late during the 'birding' season.
Viera Wetlands
Located west of Melbourne (Exit 191 on I-95), Viera Wetlands is adjacent to the water treatment plant for that area of Melbourne. There are a multitude of different birds to be seen there. Sighted recently are Bald Eagles, Crested Caracaras, Least Bitterns, Whistling Ducks and many more familiar species. Dike roads encircle the ponds and there are also observation towers.
Exit I-95 at exit 191 and go west until the road ends at the water treatment plant. There is no fee, but you must sign in at the office.