Posted on

Golf Course Palms

I’m an occasional golfer, I like to play now and again. Lately, I’ve been bringing my camera so that the time spent is not entirely wasted.

Daily Image
Palm trees on a local golf course 

Golf courses are one of the few places where you can get good pictures of trees standing alone. In fact, there are a lot of pretty scenes on a golf course sure to catch the eye of a landscape photographer (not that I know any).

more images featuring palm trees

When I bring the camera, I take it out only when we’re waiting for the party ahead. That’s a forced stop and the only time to not worry about playing too slow. As you may know, if you play too slow, you can feel the scorn of the people behind as they wait for you to move. So it’s always a balancing act, take a photo, but don’t dilly dally and hold up the whole damn shooting match. (I mean that in the nicest possible way).

Posted on

Water Hazard

The other day my wife and I played nine holes at a local course. I’m not a good golfer, but it doesn’t mean I won’t bring my camera. As we were waiting for the group ahead, I grabbed this photo of a water hazard at the third tee.

Daily Image

Water Hazard
This was taken from the third tee at Buffalo Creek Golf Course in Manatee County

During the week I rarely get out during the day. That’s a shame because the first part of the day is when we get these puffy clouds. Florida is hot as hell, and somehow that creates these evenly spaced clouds. But I digress, when I squint my eyes the reflections on the water reminded me of a kaleidoscope, and that’s why I took this photo.

more reflections

The thing about the golf course ponds in Florida is they nearly all have alligators. We didn’t see any in this one, but in two others we did. When I first came to Florida, it was a little freaky, but now I’m used to it. They do their thing, and we continue hitting little white balls. But if the ball goes into the water hazard, it’s not advisable to fish it out. I’m just saying.

Posted on

New Day on North River

New Day on North River
New Day on North River, the Manatee River from Palmetto Florida                                                    Purchase a gallery quality print

The sun rises on a new day on North River across the Manatee. The river is about a mile wide here but only goes upstream for about ten miles. The land of Florida acts as a large catch basin for the tropical rains. We don’t have long rivers as compared to other parts of the country, but they can carry a lot of water nonetheless. The water empties into the ocean and so where I’m standing rises and falls with the tide.

I took this with a wide angle lens because I wanted to show the expanse of the river, it’s nearly a mile wide here. This area is a bird sanctuary, which means a lot of migratory birds come here in the winter. At this spot there is a great Heron that can be seen every morning. I suppose they are territorial because he is always here. He’s quite skittish so when I show up for sunrise he usually flies away. But this is his spot all the same and sometimes I see him when I drive by on the bridge just behind where I’m standing here.

Whenever this section of the country gets a cold snap, we get a lot of birds that fly down from Georgia and the Carolinas. They’ll end up staying for only a week or so until it warms up and then head back north to their own home. I suppose the birds that live here full time might get their feathers ruffled with all the visitors, and of course, the short timers need to get back to their own territory. But in the meantime, this is the view all the birds and a few of us humans see, even if it’s not our territory.