Amelia Island Photo Trek

Four Days • Three Nights

Hotel nights: Friday, January 8 – Sunday, January 10
Departure: Monday Afternoon, January 11

Some places are photographed. Amelia Island is experienced.

Join the Treasure Coast Photography Center for a four-day, three-night photographic immersion in one of Florida’s most beautiful and historically significant coastal destinations.

Amelia Island is part of the remarkable chain of Atlantic barrier islands that continues north through Georgia’s Sea Islands and the Carolinas. Here, history, wildlife, maritime culture, and spectacular coastal light come together in ways few destinations can match.

As someone who grew up on Amelia Island, I’m excited to share the places that shaped my love of photography.

Four Days of Photography

We’ll photograph sunrise along miles of Atlantic beaches as the first light illuminates the dunes, sea oats, and shoreline. Evenings will bring us to the Fernandina Harbor waterfront, where shrimp boats, working docks, historic architecture, and colorful sunsets create an entirely different photographic experience.

Throughout the trek, participants will have opportunities to photograph landscapes, wildlife, architecture, maritime culture, street scenes, and the distinctive character of historic Fernandina Beach.

Fort Clinch State Park

A six-mile scenic road winds through maritime forest and beneath towering live oaks draped in Spanish moss. To the west are the expansive Spartina marshes of Egan’s Creek, home to herons, egrets, roseate spoonbills, and birds of prey. To the east, high dunes give way to wide Atlantic beaches filled with shorebirds, shells, and dramatic seascapes.

At the island’s northern tip stands Fort Clinch, one of the country’s best-preserved 19th-century brick forts. Its massive walls, cannon emplacements, barracks, passageways, and views across Cumberland Sound provide exceptional opportunities for architectural, historical, and detail photography.

Bosque Bello Cemetery

We’ll visit Bosque Bello Cemetery, a genuine historic Southern cemetery established in Old Town Fernandina. Beneath ancient live oaks, weathered monuments and elaborate Victorian gravestones tell the stories of the island’s early settlers, prominent families, and maritime past.

Its moss-draped landscape, aged stonework, and filtered light create a setting unlike the compact historic burial grounds many visitors may have previously photographed.

Beaches, Tidal Flats and Wildlife

On the island’s southern end, we’ll explore tidal flats and sandbars where changing tides continually reshape the landscape. Wading birds patrol the shallows while reflections, ripples, shells, and exposed textures create constantly changing compositions.

Little Talbot Island

Across the bridge, Little Talbot Island State Park offers one of Northeast Florida’s most distinctive coastal landscapes.

Its driftwood beach features massive weathered trees transformed into sculptural forms against the Atlantic surf. Nearby salt marshes and winding tidal creeks provide opportunities for wildlife, landscape, and reflection photography as kayakers move quietly through the waterways.

Mayport and the St. Johns River Ferry

We’ll continue south by ferry to Mayport, home to a historic shrimping fleet and Naval Station Mayport, one of the U.S. Navy’s major Atlantic bases.

Colorful shrimp boats, working docks, pelicans, naval vessels, and the activity surrounding the St. Johns River create a distinctly maritime environment unlike anywhere else in Florida.

Our Hotel

Our home for all three nights will be the Hampton Inn & Suites Amelia Island–Historic Harbor Front, located in the heart of downtown Fernandina Beach.

The hotel nights are:

• Friday, January 8
• Saturday, January 9
• Sunday, January 10

We will check out Monday, January 11.

Step outside the hotel and you’ll be surrounded by Victorian architecture, galleries, boutiques, restaurants, and the Fernandina Harbor waterfront. In the evening, join us for a drink at the legendary Palace Saloon, a Fernandina landmark that has welcomed residents, sailors, and travelers since 1903.

Extend Your Adventure

Those wishing to extend their trip may want to visit Cumberland Island National Seashore, accessible by ferry from nearby St. Marys, Georgia.

Cumberland Island is known for its wild horses, undeveloped beaches, maritime forests, and the haunting ruins of the Carnegie family’s Dungeness estate. It makes an unforgettable addition before or after the TCPC trek.

Reserve Your Place

Trek registration and hotel reservations are completed separately.

Step 1: Register for the Photo Trek
Complete the TCPC registration form to reserve your place in the trek.

Step 2: Reserve Your Hotel Room
Use the hotel reservation link to book the nights of January 8, 9, and 10.

Step 3: Pay The Photo Trek Fee

Completing the trek registration form does not reserve your hotel room. Participants must complete both steps.

Whether your passion is landscapes, wildlife, architecture, maritime photography, street photography, or discovering one of Florida’s hidden treasures, this four-day, three-night trek offers an extraordinary variety of photographic opportunities—all within a remarkably compact area.

Join us January 8–11, 2027, and discover why Amelia Island has inspired photographers, artists, and adventurers for generations.

Come for the photographs. Leave with the experience.