Fort De Soto Beach

Fort De Soto Beach
Fort De Soto Beach just outside of Tampa Bay                                      Purchase a framed gallery print

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.

You Lookin at Me?

Does anyone know what type of bird this is? I saw this fella at the Tampa zoo. His half whimsical half challenging look seemed to say (in a Robert De Niro voice)
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Does anyone know what type of bird this is? I saw this fella at the Tampa zoo. His half whimsical half challenging look seemed to say (in a Robert De Niro voice) “you looking at me?”. Something tells me he was no pushover. I’m no dummy, I know when I’ve met my match.

Piggly Wiggly

This is from a dairy farm a few months ago. This little fellow was so friendly and interested in what I was doing he followed me everywhere. He was probably looking for a handout but I could help but be smitten with his charms. I'm one of those people that believes animals have personalities and generally know more than we give them credit for. Call me naive but I think that presents a world quite different than the one we think we live in.
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This is from a dairy farm a few months ago. This little fellow was so friendly and interested in what I was doing he followed me everywhere. He was probably looking for a handout but I could help but be smitten with his charms. I’m one of those people that believes animals have personalities and generally know more than we give them credit for. Call me naive but I think that presents a world quite different than the one we think we live in.

Egret on a Pier

These little guys are not shy. For the most part they've become accustomed to humans and you can usually get within a few feet before they skitter away. I was about ten feet from this fellow as he fished from a pier at the beach. One day I came out of a store only to find one standing on my car. I walked up and got in and he never even moved. We have a tall one that lives near our house and I usually spot him on our driveway in the morning. As soon as I walk up with my dog he nonchalantly skips to the next driveway. One of the fun things about living in Florida.
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These little guys are not shy. For the most part they’ve become accustomed to humans and you can usually get within a few feet before they skitter away. I was about ten feet from this fellow as he fished from a pier at the beach. One day I came out of a store only to find one standing on my car. I walked up and got in and he never even moved. We have a tall one that lives near our house and I usually spot him on our driveway in the morning. As soon as I walk up with my dog he nonchalantly skips to the next driveway. One of the fun things about living in Florida.

Dog’s Eye View

Last weekend I came to the local farmers market with my dogs. It gets pretty hot in the day so I sat down on the sidewalk under a tree across from some local musicians. Sitting there I thought, why not shoot the scene from Wiggle's point of view. So this is the result of that. We sat there for a few minutes listening to the music and enjoying the atmosphere. Then moved on to check out more cool stuff.
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Last weekend I came to the local farmers market with my dogs. It gets pretty hot in the day so I sat down on the sidewalk under a tree across from some local musicians. Sitting there I thought, why not shoot the scene from Wiggle’s point of view. So this is the result of that. We sat there for a few minutes listening to the music and enjoying the atmosphere. Then moved on to check out more cool stuff.

Marley Under the Desk

This is Marley sitting under my desk waiting for me to play with him. He always sits within a few feet and patently waits for me to look his way an signal that it's time for a little play. I think I am a very lucky guy.

This is Marley sitting under my desk waiting for me to play with him. He always sits within a few feet and patiently waits for me to look his way an signal that it’s time for a little play. I think I am a very lucky guy.

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Crowley Chickens

These chickens were a little uncertain of what I was up to. Stalking them with my camera put them a little on edge and for whatever reason they refused to allow me within a dozen yards. Being a city slicker in their eyes probably had something to do with it. Anyway, I just thought it their antics were fun to watch as I slowly lowered my camera to their level for a close up perspective. This was the best I could do before they made a commotion and wandered further off.

These chickens were a little uncertain of what I was up to. Stalking them with my camera put them a little on edge and for whatever reason they refused to allow me within a dozen yards. Being a city slicker in their eyes probably had something to do with it. Anyway, I just thought it their antics were fun to watch as I slowly lowered my camera to their level for a close up perspective. This was the best I could do before they made a commotion and wandered further off.

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Pony by the Fence

I know the world has a lot complicated things going on, good, bad, all that. Yet all around us there are these gentle loving creatures that most of take for granted. I think we could learn a thing or two from them if we ever take the time. Maybe they are not so much

I know the world has a lot complicated things going on, good, bad, all that. Yet all around us there are these gentle loving creatures that most of take for granted. I think we could learn a thing or two from them if we ever take the time. Maybe they are not so much “animal” but beings with more intelligence, heart and emotion than we give them credit for. In any case I sat for a spell by a farm fence the other day and made friends with this little pony, and the pleasure and honor was all mine.

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Happy Bull

I recently visited Jasper National Park in the Canadian rockies and while there saw a lot of wildlife including Elk which seem to be fairly mellow in July. In any case, this bull was on the side of the road enjoying a meal of leaves when we happened by. He has irregular antlers which indicate a past injury or incident with his rack. Aside from that, he seem quite content to watch the silly human take pictures of him as he enjoyed the warm July evening. Yes, I was inside a vehicle. 😉
I recently visited Jasper National Park in the Canadian rockies and while there saw a lot of wildlife including Elk which seem to be fairly mellow in July. In any case, this buck was on the side of the road enjoying a meal of leaves when we happened by. He has irregular antlers which indicate a past injury or incident with his rack. Aside from that, he seem quite content to watch the silly human take pictures of him as he enjoyed the warm July evening.
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