Fountain at Butchart Gardens

This is a dancing fountain at Butchart Gardens in Victoria BC. The gardens are carved out of an old quarry and have become a big attraction for the region. I’m not a gardener but this place was way better than I expected. I will go back without hesitation next time I’m there.

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Fountain at Butchart Gardens
Fountain at Butchart Gardens in Victoria British Columbia

It’s hard to imagine the amount of work that goes into maintaining such an expansive display. There are favorites like roses as well as exotic species I’d never seen. There are streams, brooks and ponds throughout. As well there is an outdoor venue for concerts.

It’s the kind of place you want to take a couple of days to explore, or maybe more if you’re interested in plants or gardening. If I lived here I could see visiting on a regular basis for no other reason than to soak up the energy. If plants have feelings then those here are very happy and being around happy plants might not be a bad idea.

more landscape images

There’s too much to take in all at once, though I tried. I took hundreds of pictures of flowers as well as the landscape. This fountain was towards the back. I recall thinking there couldn’t possibly be more to see and then came upon this.

Where the Land Ends

If you drive west in San Francisco you eventually end up where the land ends. Appropriately name Lands End is a required stop when I’m here. On Monday I had a red-eye back flight home and so that afforded me the perfect opportunity to spend a couple of hours here before heading to the airport. I am so glad I did.

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Where the Land Ends
Where the Land Ends – Lands End San Francisco

Staying in the heart of the city its easy to get disconnected from nature and the beauty that surrounds this part of California. I was feeling a little bit of that when I arrived. But as soon as I parked the hum of the city fell away and I was in a different world. Standing along the shore whales could be seen at the mouth of the bay, a common occurrence.

I almost didn’t recognize the scene because last time I was here you could walk out to the rock on the left. The tide had transformed the shore. Also I don’t remember the green covering on all the rocks, perhaps that’s seasonal. In any case, it goes to show that new things appear each time you revisit a location like this, especially when mother nature is involved.

seascape images

I took a tonne of photos and when I was done the sun had set and the sky turned dark. The city was completely washed away from my mind. Next stop the airport and the flight home.

Foggy Night at the Dock

This is a foggy night at the dock in Bradenton Florida. We get fog at certain times of the year and it typically lasts only for a couple of weeks. It will roll in at night and blanket the area. I’ve been waiting for it since last year so I headed on a recent evening to capture some images.

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Foggy Night at the Dock
Foggy Night at the Dock at Bradenton Riverwalk

The fog makes everything look mysterious, like a scene from a movie. Even the simplest of scenes take on a sense of intrigue. Street lights form triangular shapes as they fan towards the ground, and in this case are reflected in the still dark waters of the river.

A simple setting that I’ve seen a hundred times appears different, even foreign. People appear slightly veiled as though involved in some intrigue. I’ve watched too many thrillers, but it seems certain that if there are spies nearby, this is when they come out to devise their plots. Or not.

images from riverwalk

If it seems to you like I get a little carried away then you would be correct. As a photographer I get carried away whenever the weather changes. It evokes my imagination and together with familiar settings I concoct all manner of fictional scenarios. But then it’s my job to bring you the story, not the facts.

Hometown Marina

This is the marina in Palmetto Florida. Actually there are a lot of marinas in Palmetto but this is the main one. Well, one of the main ones. Let me start over. This is one of several marinas in my hometown.

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Hometown Marina
Hometown Marina in Palmetto Florida

I’m not really into boats so they tend to look the same to me. There are huge differences of course; these are sailboats. At a marina closer to my home there are mostly powerboats. I never really thought about it until now but the two marinas are quite different. This marina is past all the bridges so the boats can sail straight into open waters. The marina close to home is on the other side of three bridges, one which is a draw bridge.

So now it makes sense, why would someone dock a sailboat behind an obstacle course of bridges when they could dock here? As for the powerboats near me, the bridges are not obstacles. They don’t have the same concerns with mast height, bridge structures and a drawbridge, they simple steer right through.

minimalism from the gallery

Now that I have all that figured out, back to the photo. The setting sun over the water caught my attention. That by itself would have been a nice, but in this case I had the added bonus of a marina filled with sailboats with access to open water.

Dawn on the North Pier

I took at dawn on the north pier which is where all the local fishermen hang out. The pier is the remnants of the old bridge that was replaced by the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. To get out here you need to pay a fee to the parks department. Everyone that pays that fee comes here to fish, I’m the only one that comes here to take pictures. When I show up before dawn without a fishing poll I get a few sideways glances.

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Dawn on the North Pier
Dawn on the North Pier of the Sunshine Skyway

I’ve taken pictures of this bridge from a lot of angles but this is my first time from this one. In reality it was darker but this is a thirty-second exposure and it appears lighter. The eastern horizon began to shift in color in advance of the sun which created a silhouette of the bridge. At it’s highest point between the two towers the bridge is four hundred feet above the water. Even that is not high enough for the biggest cruise ships.

If you sit here all day you’ll see a constant stream of ships passing under the bridge. You might see military aircraft as they make their approach to McDill AFB. You will surely see any number of animals, from sea birds to ocean mammals. People fish off this pier all day and all night and in that time there is quite the array of things flying, swimming and floating by.

full gallery

In my case I’m only here for an hour before heading off to somewhere else. Perhaps if I were to stay a little longer I might see more things to take pictures of. However, to do that I would probably need to bring a fishing poll. At least then I wouldn’t get those sideways glances.

Meditation Sunset

This is a meditation sunset from Emerson Point in my hometown of Palmetto. It’s the kind of image you might see on the cover of a meditation book, at least that’s what comes to my mind.

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Meditation Sunset
Meditation sunset taken with a wide angle lens in Palmetto Florida

Speaking of which, I’ve been trying meditation lately. Not that I know what I’m doing, just taking a few minutes to clear my mind when I can. Long story short, it’s easier said than done. And to be honest I’m not sure if this picture would help. As soon as I look at a photo I start thinking thoughts and you’re not supposed to do that. But I’m no expert so take what I say with a grain of salt. Maybe I should give it a try, it might help for all I know.

Moving along, I took this with my new Laowa 12mm wide angle lens. The fun thing about getting a new lens is I get to try it out on familiar locations and see what happens. A wide angle lens has the tendency to create a tunnel effect, meaning that everything appears to converge in a point on the horizon. It’s just a nifty effect of the lens, we don’t actually see things that way.

images featuring clouds in the gallery

Anyway, let’s all take a deep breath, look at this picture and clear our minds. It might just do us a world of good. When I finally figure out how to meditate I’ll write a book and put this photo on the cover. Maybe.

Sarasota Skyline One Afternoon

This is a two-minute long exposure of the Sarasota Skyline one afternoon last month. Looking at the file info for this image I see it was taken at 5:43pm. This was obviously before we set the clocks back because now the sun goes down at 5:30. Funny thing about photography is it causes me to notice little details like that.

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Sarasota Skyline One Afternoon
Sarasota Skyline One Afternoon

On one level photography is a mechanical process, take a picture and preserve a moment. On another level the practice of photography is a way of becoming present in the moment and aware of my surroundings. One way to reconnect to the environment is through art, and for me that means the art of photography.

It’s nice if I can make a photo that other people like. But more important to me is to make a photo that I like. It’s an exploration through experimentation that leads to discoveries. To start with, discovering what aesthetics I like. Also discovering how to convey a vision through an image. A vision is in our minds and an image is a thing we look at. Connecting the two is an art.

see more images in the gallery

I could go on about what the pursuit of photography is, at least for me. But perhaps I’ll cut it short today and let the picture do the talking. That should be worth at least another thousand words.

Dawn on the Bridge Street Pier

Here is another image taken at dawn on the Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach. To get this I arrived before dawn on a Sunday morning. Each time I do that I see the staff still cleaning up at the local tavern, but then I’m here only three hours after closing. The coffee shop on the pier is already open with a few early birds already sitting at the counter. 

The water is always calm and the sky starts turning deep pastel colors. In my humble opinion it’s the best time to be here, assuming you are a morning person of course.

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Dawn on the Bridge Street Pier
Dawn on the Bridge Street Pier in the town of Bradenton Beach

On this last Saturday night I was just a few hundred meters away taking pictures of the gulf in the other direction. This is on Anna Maria Island which is a long narrow island. As I drove past the center of the town there were a lot of people at the outdoor restaurants. It seemed that live music was playing on each corner. 

I’m fortunate to live here, especially during winter. Its human nature to forget and take it all for granted. When I see folks that have travelled here I am reminded how lucky I am.

European Gallery

Even so I travel to take photos of other places. But when I’m home I have so many things to take pictures in my own backyard. I’m always taking pictures of the water here. The reflections, the waves, the colors, all of it combined .

I’m not really going anywhere with all this.

Doing the Same Thing

When I show up here in the morning there is usually someone else doing the same thing. I cannot imagine how many photos of this bridge exists. I am one in a long line of bridge photographers. When I got my first DSLR this is the first place I came to. I’ve been here since and I’ll be back again.

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Doing the Same Thing
Doing the Same Thing – Photography of Familiar Places

Sometimes I’ll do an outing with my camera and not get any good photos. That’s subjective and long after I may change my mind. Photography is a state of mind and what you perceive as good changes over time. It also has to do with mood. We watch movies based on our mood; drama, comedy, thriller and romance, they all appeal to different moods. So it is with photography. One day I may like one photo, the next day another.

Sometimes I’ll go back and look at a shot I did years ago and have a completely different appreciation of it. I might no longer like it. Or I might see something I like but missed.

abstract images

On this morning I met a man from Newfoundland who was also taking pictures of the bridge. It was perhaps his first and only time he would be here. In that case I hope he got some images he likes.

The Other Morning

The other morning I came here to a little park by the bridge. There are nice views all around despite the urban setting. I had the new wide angle Laowa 12mm f/2.8 lens. I used it to pull a lot of the scene into the frame. Wide angle lenses are good for that but we have an even wider angle of view with our eyes. I was wondering why don’t we see things this way all the time.

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The Other Morning
The Other Morning on Siesta Key

It was early and I had the place to myself. I took a lot of photos in various directions. The lens gives the water and clouds equal prominence. The texture of the clouds this morning was balanced by the texture of the water and creates an interesting effect.

This is the bridge to Siesta Key in Sarasota. Its sunrise and were facing east so I crossed the bridge to get to this spot. As soon as I finished I crossed back. Bridges like this are the lifeblood of Florida communities. They make living on small islands possible for people without boats.

bridge images from the gallery

Anyway, I’m still learning about the new lens and so far so good. I’m reshooting old locations for a new perspective. That’s probably something I’ll be doing for a while.