Artist captures struggle for survival Photographer Rick Cruz looks at his favorite subject, the Florida Everglades, as if the marshland were an emergency room patient left to fend for herself while we watch. "With the Everglades we are witnessing one of nature's most basic of survival instincts," Cruz says. "She is maintaining a fragile balance of a unique ecosystem; the only wetlands of its kind on our planet." He hikes through all regions of the park, especially Big Cypress National Park and the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, with camera in hand, watchful for those moments when the light, the grass, and the wildlife conspire to create magic. Cruz's show, "Connect with Nature to Change a Mood," can be seen through May 15 at the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center at Everglades National Park. By Juan Carlos Rodriguez