Tampa Archives - Page 6 of 10 - Just Enough Focus

April 24, 2016April 24, 2016

Pure and Simple

These surf kites at the midpoint of the Sunshine Skyway in Tampa and can be seen for miles away whenever there’s a breeze. Once in a while I’ll pull off the highway to watch. The main impression I get is of the contrast of these colorful canopies moving against the sky. They are mesmerizing to watch and this is a simplification of that scene as it appears in my minds eye.

The wind here changes direction from one day to the next and depending on that the surfers alternate from one side of the causeway to the other. The spectacle of the scene is so compelling it’s a wonder there aren’t accidents as drivers crane their heads to get a look.

In my way of thinking, I’m always trying to simplify things. I work and live in a complex world and what helps is if I can simplify the complexity a bit. I do this by removing things that I feel are unnecessary to the central core or subject of a thing. In this case, the subject is little colorful kites in a big sky, so to convey that I needed to remove as many distractions as possible. I think this might not be a bad philosophy to live by. In fact it’s called de-cluttering, and now there are de-clutter coaches you can hire to help with de-cluttering you life. We’ll, I’m no guru or coach, but I do like to get to the essence of a thing, and in this case, it’s all about the kites.

Pure and simple.

Some other images with or around this bridge

April 21, 2016April 21, 2016

Deep Blue Sea

This was the scene as night descended on the Fort DeSoto fishing pier. I can never get enough of this place and will probably keep coming back here again and again. I took this as the sky turned from blue to black and the mood and scene changed by the minute. My perspective is towards the West which means it looks out into the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This is the direction the cargo and cruise ships take when leaving Tampa.

I like the idea of looking out to an infinity of space. I think it plays a bit of havoc with my mind since I can never fully appreciate the size and mass of things like oceans, but then maybe I’m not meant to. Suffice to say its food for thought, forever an enigma.

Piers or old bridges that have become piers are used by fishermen at all hours of the night here in Florida. Right now it seems we’re in a good fishing season because I’m seeing a lot of people with fish in their buckets or on their lines. Getting outside on a warm night with a fishing pole is probably the closest thing to heaven for many who live or visit here. Myself, I’m just happy to take pictures of the scenes, thats my form of heaven, that and the deep blue bottomless sea.

More images of piers from the gallery

April 17, 2016

Heron and the Bridge

It seems whenever I’m taking photos near the water here in Florida, herons are never too far away. They’re skittish to be sure so you can’t just walk up to them and expect to get a picture. Having a telephoto lens helps a lot, with this shot I was back a ways and still able bring the bird up close. I’m not a wildlife photographer, but once in a while if the opportunity presents itself I’ll go for it. Real wildlife photographers have a lot of patience, and work long and hard to get a good image. In this case I positioned myself so the heron was framed by the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and fired away.

While I was here a couple of serious or “real” wildlife photographers walked up. They had big heavy long lenses and tripods that looked like something I’d expect to see on an African safari. They were here taking photos of the birds including this one. They had serious looks on their faces to go with the equipment they were carrying. Anyway, I got my shot, nodded to them and left the bird in their expert care.

Even today, a couple of weeks after I took this shot, I was by the water again and another Heron landed right in front of me. Again I tried to work him into the shot from a good distance so as not to spook him. Not always do the shots work, but it never hurts to try. When I take photos I try to keep my eyes open for any happy coincidence that might happen. Sometimes it helps to add another element to the story, sometimes it might even become the main subject. Anyway, in this case it just seemed to work, thanks to buddy bird here.

Some of my favorite images from the gallery

April 3, 2016April 5, 2016

Deserted Island

Today I visited the deserted island known as Egmont Key. It’s near the big city of Tampa but completely removed from civilization. There is nothing here but an old fort, a ghost town, a lighthouse and miles of empty white sand beaches. Today was warm and sunny, yet there was only a handful of people that bothered to take the ferry out here. That meant I could walk for miles along the shore without seeing anyone. I walked the circumference of the island and somewhere halfway between one end and the other I spotted this couple.

The island reminded me a little of the island on Lost, except there are no mountains. I think that during WW2 there was a lot of activity on account of its location as a gateway into Tampa Bay. But now it’s a state park accessible only by boat and so remains largely deserted save for a park ranger, sea birds and a few daily visitors.

More beaches from the blog

To get here you catch a ferry from Fort DeSoto Park in St Petersburg. There are only two scheduled departures in the morning and then two return trips in the afternoon. The last return leaves at 2:30 so if you miss it you’re on your own. You might as well look for a place to shelter for the night. In that case you could wander over to the ghost town, I’m sure they’ll have a room there.

More beach shots from the gallery

March 29, 2016March 29, 2016

The Number Three

I’ve heard it said that three is a magic number. Well, it’s certainly the name of a tune sung by Blind Melon, but I’m not sure how magic that is. If you’re a little lost don’t feel bad, I had to look that last part up on Wikipedia. Even without looking something up I can reasonably say that three represents a lot of things. The periods in a hockey game, dimensions of space, and of course, the number of legs on a stool. Deeper words have rarely been written.

More images from Fort Desoto State Park

This is the kind of scenery you can find at Fort Desoto State Park in St Petersburg Florida. Its also an example of how I’ve developed a tendency to see scenes in letterbox vignettes, one at a time, all around me. In fact there were things to the right and left, but I imagined this one little vignette in my mind and so framed the shot. Sometimes I might need more and use a wide angle, but for this 50mm was enough to capture the image I wanted. Having a zoom lens really helps in this department.

This is also another view of the seawall that I posted a few days ago. It’s a thirty minute drive north of me and one reason I like to come here is that I can bring my dog. Much of the shoreline in central Florida is off limits to dogs but this being a state park its pet friendly. There is a dog beach and places like this where you can walk with your best friend. So here I am; me, my bud and my camera, just the three of us. Magic.

March 23, 2016March 23, 2016

Wings of Angels

This is one of the places I go to whenever I need to get away. Friday evening I walked along the seawall with my dog and soaked in the muted tones of blue, green and grey. I had come up here hoping for a sunset but what I got was better. This is Fort DeSoto Park is in St Petersburg Florida.

By simply making the effort to show up and be observant I notice things I might otherwise overlook. The textures and patterns in the clouds are an example. I once heard that these are the wings of angels. Maybe, but whatever posses them to form such shapes is beyond my comprehension.

More seascapes from the gallery

In the foreground is the concrete reinforcement of the seawall. Beyond is the Gulf of Mexico. Ships pass by here on the way in and out of Tampa Bay. If you look closely you’ll see two large vessels along the horizon. A few minutes later I watched as one passed by.

At this time of day the crowds have left and you can pretty much have the whole place to your self. There were one or two other souls along the seawall enjoying the tranquillity, or perhaps just communing with their thoughts. Maybe those angels had something to do with it.

March 9, 2016March 10, 2016

In the Next Life

This is a I275 rest stop near Tampa just before the Skyway bridge. Its one of the most scenic highway stops in the state, especially at sunset. Truckers know this well as I see them all lined on break with this scene out their windscreens. Moments like this, especially at dusk, have me longing for the open road; next life perhaps.

Other images of or near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge

In this life I’m a software architect by day and a photographer by night. It keeps me home yet longing for the road. I spend more time pining for a journey than the comfort of home. If I was a trucker it would be the opposite, longing for home on long lonely highways. The best solution for me is to live in the moment, be thankful for what I have. I am thankful for what I have, but in my next life, …

Speaking of the next life, if you could choose to come back as an animal, what would it be? I have so many ideas it would be hard to choose. Living here in Florida I’d want to be an Eagle or Osprey, I like the thought of flying high and surveying the landscape, although I’m not sure about eating my prey while it’s still alive. Another idea; my own pet dog, his name is Wiggles, he gets a tonne of love and has a good life. But he is a rescue, and I wouldn’t want to go through the abuse he did before we got him. On second thought, I guess I’m happy just being me for now.

March 1, 2016

Looking North

Here is another shot I took from an observation tower looking north towards St Pete. In the foreground is the trail through Robinson Preserve, off in the distance is the Sunshine Skyway bridge and, if you look closely, beyond the bridge is downtown St Petersburg.

Click for Florida Gallery

For the sky and water I overlaid the texture from the inside of a native american Cedar canoe. Surely that has nothing to do with this picture yet it seemed to work well. Textures are photos of other things that can be used to add to an otherwise plain surface. I started collecting textures, which is just another way of saying I’ve been taking pickers of the ground, walls, clouds or interesting patterns. I never know how something will work until I try it out, like this one.

I wrote a post about pictorialism and how I gravitate towards the artistic side of photography. That’s evident in this image because I’ve changed it to convey a feeling or idea, not so much a strict representation of the moment. I’m not that much into the purist side of photography where we document a moment in time. That’s an honorable profession, it’s just not for me. I’m in it for the art. Totally.

December 29, 2015December 29, 2015

Fort De Soto Beach

Visits to the beach

This is Fort De Soto Beach a couple of days ago. With the holiday over we decided to head to the beach and unwind. This is a section that looks across towards the Sunshine Skyway Bridge as it enters Tampa Bay. I don’t spend as much time at the beach as you might think. I go for photography quite a bit, but to sit and vegetate, rarely. I suppose that’s common among us who live here, we take it for granted. I go maybe two or three times a year. But as I say, for photography I go many more times than that. In the end it doesn’t matter because I do spend time along the shore with the waves, breeze and sunsets; I do not take that for granted, at least not yet.

How I created the Image

I worked on this image for several hours this evening. I used a motion blur and carefully blended the original layer. Prior to that I created about ten layers in Photoshop to carefully craft the image to an idea I had in my minds eye. Then finally I used a Lightroom preset to give it an overall desaturated tone.

What I was thinking at the time

You may understand some of these technical details but if not, no worries. The point is, on some images I spend a lot of time and effort to transform an image into something resembling a dreamscape. For no other reason than I like to and, I think that dreams can be just as important as ordinary life. I’ve heard that we make our own reality, so if that’s true, then sometimes I like to create a reality that is a little bit ethereal like a dream, one that I would like to inhabit if I could; at least in my mind.

December 22, 2015

Afternoon at Fort DeSoto Beach

Over the weekend I spent the afternoon at Fort DeSoto beach watching the waves and taking a few pictures. This is one of my favorite spots, its remote and in the afternoon there are few people. There is also a campground near by so you can walk or ride a bike here, watch the sunset and then head back to sit around the campfire. That’s what this family did as it started to get dark.

Just off the coast is Egmont Key which is a deserted island, a little like the island in Lost.

Around this time of the day you might see a cruise ship sail past this point on its way out of Tampa Bay towards the Gulf of Mexico. Winter it’s a busy time for cruises so we tend to see a lot of ships coming and going. Something about those gigantic ships is mesmerizing to watch, especially in the evenings when they are all lit up, like moving cities. If you get up early, you see them going in the opposite direction as they come into port.

Only after I moved to the Tampa area did I learn about cruises. A few years back I took my first cruise out of here and sailed right past this spot. I had so much fun I didn’t want it to end. Nevertheless, I got up early on the last morning to see all the familiar landmarks I’d only ever seen from shore.