inspired photography with just enough perspective
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Between Coquina and Bradenton Beach is this walkway with shade and picnic tables. On account of the rain and wind it wasn’t too busy today, nevertheless it was pretty warm and quite a few were at the beach anyway. I walked along this between the two beaches and then along the beach for a spell watching the waves and enjoying the warm wind blowing in off the Gulf of Mexico.
Someone walks along the shore as the sun recedes. Now get out and enjoy the weekend (say’s me to myself). ;-0
This evening I waited way too long to capture this. It’s not a good idea to stay outside when the clouds look like this. As I waited for the sun to appear in the break above the horizon, a thunderstorm approached from the east. Most everyone else scattered but I wanted to capture the combination of colors before me. Nonetheless, I lived to tell about it and I have the image that I made a bad decision for. Not sure if that’s good or bad.
It always amazes me to see people leaving when I show up at the beach before sunset. To my way of thinking the best is yet to come, yet to scores of others it’s time to load up the car and leave. I guess that’s understandable especially if you have small kids or commitments. After the exodus there are two types of people left, folks like me who came for the sunset and, the rest of the beach stragglers that will not leave until they’ve seen the final act. In the end I suppose all that matters is that we all had fun and got what we came for.
Earlier today I read that this beach was rated number five in the “Top Ten Island Beaches for Perfect Sand” by Conde Nast Traveler. I thought to myself, hey, that’s MY beach. Fortunately we had nice clouds so I headed down this evening for a shoot. I’ve taken a lot of pictures of this beach, it’s by far my favorite. No matter how many times I come here the results are always the same, I go home relaxed and feeling much better.
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This is one of those locations I just keep coming back to time and time again. It’s an iconic location known as Coquina Beach at the south end of the town of Bradenton Beach. I have a lot more from this location in backlog, but at the rate that I collect them it might be a while before I get them all out. In any case here’s one that seemed to convey a sense of serenity. I think I need a little of that to get me through the rest of the week.
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On Anna Maria Island there are a couple of little towns that have a beach on one side and the inter-coastal waterway on the other which is where dozens of sailboats dock. Each sailboat has a rowboat that allows the occupants to row to shore. In fact you see that all up and down the coast; little rowboats on the shore waiting for their owners to row back to their sailboat. I was up at the crack of dawn in one such town and I notice this man and his dog heading back to the boat. Must have been a long night.
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A few weeks back I took this picture of Bradenton Beach from the dunes. Actually I’ve been doing a lot of that lately, …but anyway, I couldn’t help but be impressed by how wide the beach was, in an unsettling way. Kind of like when you see someone that changed their appearance slightly but you just can’t put your finger on it. After I took a bunch of shots I was walking back to my car and met some guy that asked me about my camera and tripod. Turns out he’s the photographer in charge of documenting the beach restoration. What that means is that they added about fifty feet of beach out into the ocean since the last time I was here. Sure enough, when I got home and checked my GPS geotags on Google Maps using satellite imagery, a bunch of my shots where taken from in the water. He said that if they didn’t do that every few years Anna Maria Island and this beach would disappear. Here is a link to a picture I shot of the same area with about fifty feet less beach. Kinda makes you think, doesn’t it?
Purchase this photo of the lovely restored beach before it disappears again.
Even though I live near the beach I haven’t posted many shots from there lately. That’s the danger of living where I do, I might begin to take it for granted. I like shooting all kinds of landscapes, but something about standing by the water with the gentle waves, its very relaxing. So it’s time to post another Bradenton Beach photo and then head out to go get some more. Yeah, I know, life’s a beach. Happy Friday Everyone.
Another shot of another old pier at sunset, but come to think about it the sunset was just an afterthought. The combinations of rock, wood, sand and water is what attracted me, the sun was a bonus. Just another sunset at Coquina Beach in the town of Bradenton Beach, Florida. From a beach in a town named for a beach, life is a beach.
