Fortunate Enough

This is a long exposure of the marina in Palmetto. Once the sun goes down the glow on the horizon fades for about an hour. The last few minutes of the glow are almost imperceptible yet appears more pronounced with a long exposure. This is image is eight-seconds and of course was taken with a tripod. Because the glow is more pronounced it contrasts with the night sky directly overhead. It’s a unique lighting situation that I was fortunate enough to capture. The scene is enhanced even more by the color of the thin clouds above the boats.

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I Was Fortunate Enough
I was fortunate enough to capture the light of dusk

I didn’t know ahead of time these conditions were occurring. But I had my camera and was looking for something to capture. Taking the time to notice what is happening is a skill. This scene was not apparent with a casual glance. To see a scene like this I need to slow down and put myself in a different mindset. In that mindset I’ll see scenes I’m not necessarily looking for.

boats in the gallery

My theory is that interesting things appear around us all the time. The challenge is to get past that little voice that insists there is nothing to look at. I get that a lot when I go out to do photography. To push past that takes will power. It produces rewards by simply continuing when I think I should give up. I surprise myself sometimes at the shots I get. It’s not that I’m super talented, it’s more that I give myself opportunities. The more I do that the better my chances. That sounds like a sports metaphor but it’s equally applicable to photography, or, any other worthwhile endeavor; at least thats my theory.

The Final Glow

So often when I walk my dog I wish I had brought my camera. This time I decided to bring it so I could stop at this marina and capture the final glow. It was worth having to carry the camera along with a leash and poop bags for the full length of the walk.

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The Final Glow
The Final Glow

Normally I would just use a cell phone but this time I wanted to see if a real camera made a difference. The iPhone is good but the Sony can get so much more detail and dynamic range.

I like taking my dog with me when I’m shooting landscapes. He loves to come for the ride and I enjoy the company. It’s a mutual partnership. Sometimes I’ll be holding him on the leash with one hand and taking pictures with the other. If he sees another dog and pulls the leash it can get tricky. That happened on this shot as I was composing the shot. It’s all good and in the end we both got what we wanted.

I try not to get too serious when I’m taking photos. Once in a while having a dog along helps me keep it light. It’s important to have fun because that gets reflected in the final images. Ironically, if I get too serious I’m not as relaxed and I’ll miss things.

manatee county gallery

While I would like to take credit for this image, some part it goes to Mr. Wiggles, my trusty sidekick and assistant. I’m not sure if you can tell but we both had fun.

Mountains in the Sky

We don’t have mountains in Florida so as photographers we look to clouds for inspiration. We get all kinds depending on the time of year. These here are typical for winter, in the summer they are even more dramatic. You could say these are our mountains in the sky.

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Mountains in the Sky
Mountains in the Sky – Florida Clouds

I took this last week after the rain passed. It was the kind of rain that washes everything and then breaks up in the afternoon, just in time for a sunset. That happens regularly because of the Florida climate. The heat during the day creates disturbances and then the sun recedes and the energy dissipates. As a result we get these displays which keep cloud watchers like me busy.

Often there are evenly spaced rows of puffy “cotton-candy” clouds. For some reason they only appear over the land, never the shore. Broken clouds like these at sunset are my favorite. I used a wide angle lens so they appear to converge on the horizon.

cloudscapes

Because of the geography and heat, clouds are part of the landscape here. They are stand-ins for mountains and you can’t help but notice them. If I was a mariner I’d know how to read them and know what they foretell. Nevertheless I think a little bit of that ability rubs off on anyone who takes the time to look up and wonder.

Things We Overlook

Lately I’ve been taking photos close to home. No matter where we live there are things we overlook. Yesterday I posted a photo along a busy highway. By simply turning around the scene looks remote and secluded. A theme for me in photography, and I suppose life, is perspective. It informs much of what I do. I look for a perspective that resonates amongst the distractions of an urban setting.

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Things We Overlook
Things we overlook in our own backyard

The other night I walked along a trail by the river to take photos of the sunset. As I was returning to my car I noticed this mangrove along the shore. Normally they are clustered together but this stood out with its extended roots. The roots are what protect the shores of Florida from erosion by tides and storms. They are vital to the ecosystem.

Sometimes I see unexpected things by simply turning the camera in a particular direction. From that comes vignettes of nature like this. Most of us live in urban landscapes. As much as I crave nature in national parks, I spend most of my time amongst roads, buildings and power lines.

palmetto photos

Maybe it’s a form of preference. I look for things I need to see. I see them because I’m looking. And at times like this day I see things I wasn’t even looking for. “If you try sometime, you get what you need.”

Slightly Different Light

This is a park bench next to the river. If I could order coffee from this spot it wold be perfect. I could however get a cup at Dunkin Donuts and sit here at sunrise. This is an urban beach with a busy highway just behind me. This is also an example of taking some common scene from an urban setting and portraying it in a slightly different light.

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Slightly Different Light
Showing a common scene in a slightly different light

An HDR image, this is made up of three exposures. I manually blended the exposures to get the mood I wanted. The main focus is the light of the sun reflected on the water and table. I took this as the sun was just emerging between two layers of clouds.

I had taken several other shots of just the water and the clouds, but thought they lacked a foreground subject. So I used the picnic table to provide a sense of depth.

Tens of thousands of people drive by this spot every day, but here I’m using my imagination to make something out of nothing. Its a way to practice the craft and make soup out of stone. It’s not a fantastic image, but it was fun to shoot and process.

other images of this river

Actually, on a Sunday when there isn’t the usual commuter traffic on the roads this is a very nice spot to have a picnic. Anyway, enough said, time to go get a coffee.

Saturday Night Fireworks

These are the Saturday night fireworks we had here in my hometown for the annual regatta. It’s the third year and each year it gets bigger and bigger. They shut down one of the main bridge so people can stand on it to watch the Formula One races. Those boats are pushing the limits of the laws of physics, it really is crazy to watch. The day is filled with food, acrobatic displays and concerts and ends with a firework display.

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Saturday Night Fireworks
Saturday Night Fireworks at the Bradenton Area Regatta.

I took this from across the river near my home in Palmetto. Palmetto is a small town compared to Bradenton, but they share the river and during the regatta each city joins together to put on the show.

When I arrived at the little beachhead along the river to watch the fireworks there was a couple already sitting in their lawn chairs waiting for the fireworks. I asked how it was going and the guy replied it was a little cold. We laughed but basically called him on it. He was from upstate New York and his son just sent him a picture of the snow up there. Here we all were in shorts and sandals watching fireworks. Maybe he was just being facetious so I told him to send back a picture and see if he gets any sympathy from the folks up north.

Bradenton Images

I’m fortunate to live here in Florida especially at this time of year. I just returned from a couple of weeks in Canada and I can say with certainty that it is not cold here. The only cold thing is the ice in the fridge that we use to keep our drinks cold.

Sailing Nowhere

As far as I can tell this boat has been here for years and is sailing nowhere. One morning I headed over by the water to take pictures of the sunrise. There is a mooring field between two bridges and it’s a place to watch the sunrise or sunset depending on which way you’re facing. My theory is that this is an abandoned boat because it’s been here for years and never seems to move. Before I moved to Florida it never occurred to me but apparently there are abandoned boats out there. From a purely aesthetic point of view, they make for good picture taking.

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Sailing Nowhere
Sailing Nowhere in Manatee County

I doubt that removing the vessels is high on any municipal agenda. Eventually a hurricane come along and sink the craft and then mother nature begins her slow process of reclaiming it.

I showed up early to take this and to my surprise, someone else was there at the same time taking pictures as well. To be honest I was a little surprised. I live in a small town and rarely is anyone other than myself taking photos in the morning. In a big city or a national landmark yes, of course, I would expect all manner of photographers. But Palmetto? Well, anyway we both took some photos of that lovely morning and then went our separate ways.

Florida Gallery

As for this boat, it just stayed in this one spot and I’m pretty sure it hasn’t moved since.

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.

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.

Wide Angle View

This is a wide angle view of the Gulf of Mexico I took from Emerson Point in Florida. I made this with the new Laowa 12mm f/2.8 lens that was created through the help of a Kickstarter. The claim to fame on this lens is that there is no distortion. That’s something hard to do but someone figured it out and this is the result. Generally we use software to remove the distortion of a wide lens, but in this case it’s not necessary. Anyway, it’s kinda cool in a geeky kind of way and I’ll be carrying the lens with me in the next little while.

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Wide Angle View
Wide Angle View from Emerson Point

Sometimes I’ll drive to this spot if I think there’ll nice sunset. It’s one of my goto spots for sunsets since it’s so close to home. Normally there are a handful of other peopler her with cameras looking to snap some nice pics.

I don’t mind repeating myself because mother nature never does. So no matter how many times I come to the same spot, it will always be different.

After the sun sets the park ranger usually comes along to shoo everyone out of the park. It closes right after sunset and if you linger too long they will let you know. I used to get annoyed by that but I have since come to realize that the park is the domain of the wildlife. As soon as it gets dark the road fills with all manner of creatures coming out for the evening. So it makes sense that we should give them their space not to mention it can be dangerous if cars are on the roads at the same time.

sunset images

So basically I come, I shoot, I depart. A very quick excursion close to home and without a whole lot of effort.