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Panorama of the Pier

This is a panorama of the pier on Anna Maria Island on another one of my Sunday drives. I take a disproportionate number of photos on Sunday because I usually end up going for a drive. I’ve also been taking a lot of panoramas lately. This one I’ve shortened but it is actually another twenty-five percent wider on the right. It looks better on a wall that way but what you see here is cropped for the web.

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Panorama of the Pier
Panorama of the Pier on Anna Maria Island

One thing I will say about Anna Maria Island is how quiet it is. That may seem like an unusual statement for someone living or visiting here, but it’s true. I just got back from New York City and the contrast couldn’t be more apparent. Comparing apples and oranges (pardon the analogy) is not a fair comparison, but take away everything else and you are left with the sounds.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE New York City. But coming back to Florida after a little visit there reminds me how much I like quiet places as well. Quite frankly I can use a little more New York in my life, but I sure am fortunate to live here in Florida. We have open spaces, sea breezes and the quiet sound of the waves.

more from Anna Maria Island

Now that I got that off my chest, I have half a mind to plan another trip to NYC. But in the meantime I’ll go for Sunday drives and look for scenes like this and listen to the sounds of a tropical island right here in Florida.

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The Great Salt Lake

I just got back from Salt Lake City. It was my first time there and most of the time was spent in the valley or the mountains to the east. However on my last day there were flight delays so I took the opportunity to visit the Great Salt Lake before leaving. This is a midday view of Stansbury Island from a viewing platform at the state marina. The lake is big enough to have several islands that are extensions of the surrounding mountain ranges.

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The Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake

I was trying to figure out why it seemed so desolate and then it occurred to me there are no fish in the lake. No fish, no fishermen; it makes for a quiet lake. The lake is a terminus and has no outlet so the water simply evaporates leaving the minerals behind. In some ways it resembles desert filled with water. As such it presents an opportunity to do a study in minimalism, in this case I created a panorama consisting of two side-by-side images.

My ancestry goes back to the early settlers of this area. My grandmother used to tell us stories that were passed down to her about the hardships of the early days. My great-great-grandfather was the fellow that first spotted the lake as the early Mormons were looking for a place to settle. So I imagine this is not all that different from what he saw. I wonder if he was disappointed when they realized there were no fish in the lake.

more studies in minimalism

My mother grew up here and once told me that you could just float in the water without swimming. I once tried an isolation tank that used salt water. Because the water is so heavy you float without sinking below the surface. It was a feeling of weightlessness; I wonder if the same is true for this lake.

I had a short stay here but plan to come back and explore. Salt Lake City is a growing city and surrounded by scenery on all sides. It’s no wonder the pioneers decided to put down roots here.

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Strawberry Moon

Over the weekend we had a full moon and for some reason it’s called the strawberry moon. Apparently it’s the smallest full moon of the year, but I think that doesn’t means much in practical terms because we can’t see the difference with our eyes.

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Strawberry Moon
Strawberry Moon over Sarasota

This is the Sarasota skyline from across the bay. It was one of the few nights we didn’t have cloud cover and this scene is one I’ve been waiting to capture.

In fact this is a large panorama consisting of twelve individual images in a grid of 2 x 6. At full resolution this is two by eight feet. If you are thinking of purchasing a print, be sure to select the wide panorama crop (20 x 80 or similar) when checking out or just contact me so that I can ensure you get the correct fit for the frame size you want.

I’ve been creating a lot of panoramas lately. I’m intrigued by the perspective and level of detail that’s possible. However the bigger the panorama the harder it is to put together. There are a lot of nuances that need to be fit just so. The software helps a little but most of the work is slow detail effort, although it’s something I enjoy a lot. The long slow process in kind of like a meditation for me, I’m in a different world when editing images.

I spend more time working on photos than taking them. That’s just part of my artistic process. Often I’ll come back to a photo a dozen times before I feel it’s ready. Many times it never gets there and is relegated to the reject bin. Every now and then I review the rejects and see something in a different light and bring it back to life. 

more panoramas

In this case I had a strong idea of what I wanted so it was just a matter of taking the time to get it just right, in camera and in post processing. After all that work I still don’t know why it’s called a strawberry moon. I should just Google it but on the other hand I think I’ll just leave it as a mystery for now.

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Panorama of the Sarasota Waterfront

This is a panorama of the Sarasota waterfront. This section is known as Marina Jacks and is the main marina in town. If you want to take a fishing tour or sunset cruise, this is the spot. I’ve done both from here and it never gets old.

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Panorama of the Sarasota Waterfront
Panorama of the Sarasota Waterfront

I’m going to come back here, this weekend perhaps, and get the same scene at sunrise; this was closer to dusk. As with many of my panoramas I’ve combined several photos so that the resolution is higher than a normal, enough to see very small details. For example, if you zoom in you can see the baseball game on the TV inside the restaurant on the left. That’s perhaps way too much detail, but I think it’s cool nonetheless.

In a panorama the view sweeps from one side to the other. There is something epic about the perspective; it gives you a sense of scale. Anyway, this is one way to capture the waterfront without taking a shot from an aircraft or drone.

more panoramas

I was walking my dog when I took this. I held the leash in one hand and the camera in the other and took five images from left to right; no tripod was involved. That says more about the capabilities of the Sony camera than it does about my camera holding skills. It’s perhaps not the best way to go about it but the dog needed a walk and I needed a picture, so we compromised. In the end we both got what we wanted.

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An Antidote for Gloominess

I’m originally from California but I lived in Canada for a while. During the long cold winter I imagined what it would be like to live in Florida. This image of Venice Florida is a close approximation of how I envisioned it. Condos on a long sandy beach seem like an antidote for gloominess. It’s no wonder people come down here for a change of scenery.

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An Antidote for Gloominess
An Antidote for Gloominess – the beach at Venice Florida

This is another panorama; I’ve been doing a lot of these lately. This one is composed of four images, two on the left and two on the right. Each side has one stacked on top of the other. I used a 50mm prime lens so the detail is very good.

Because this is a more complex image, I used a tool called Autopano Giga to stitch it together. In general seascape panoramas can be difficult on account of the movement of the waves, but it worked out well this time.

Getting back to the main subject, while living in Canada I read the John Updike Rabbit novels. In the final installment, Rabbit at Rest, the main character retires from Pennsylvania to a condo in Florida. It was a while ago and I don’t remember all the details, but this is the image of Florida I had in my mind.

beach gallery

Of course that was a while ago and now, by a long and winding road, I ended up here myself, although not retired. Nevertheless I have the chance to see for myself all these condos on the water. And every time I see some retired gentleman I think of Rabbit at Rest.

I guess I’ll have to reread the book now.

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On the way to St Armand’s

On the weekend we decided to head to Sarasota for dinner and I had a vague thought to grab the camera. On the way to St Armand’s Circle we saw this scene as we approached the bridge. Since I had my camera I pulled over to capture the sun nearing the horizon. Although it looks white here, the sun was glowing red from behind what appeared to be atmospheric dust. Every so often dust from the Sahara blows across the Atlantic and creates a filter-like effect that’s good for photography.

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On the way to St Armand’s
On the way to St Armand’s in Sarasota

This is another panoramic image. I was using a 35mm lens and took three vertical images and then stitched them together in Lightroom. Unlike the panorama of Miami that I posted yesterday, this does not have as much detail. Nevertheless I am fond of this technique for capturing landscapes because it produces very little distortion. It’s similar to turning your head from side to side.

I get a little wistful when I see a sunset and don’t have a camera. So I’ve gotten in the habit of carrying one even if I don’t plan on talking pictures. You never can tell when something might come up. If I use a small prime lens then the camera is not so bulky. Then, if I feel I need to go wider than the lens allows, I can simply create a panorama with as little as two side-by-side images.

Sarasota Gallery

Anyway, this is my favorite location to take photos in Sarasota and I had it in the back of my mind that I might see something as we dove by. I’m glad I listened to that little voice in my head. Hopefully I’ll keep listening.

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Miami Sunrise Panorama

I was a little lucky to capture this Miami sunrise panorama. We had just docked at the port of Miami after a weekend in the Bahamas. Because we docked at the last terminal it afforded this unique perspective of the city to the west and South Beach to the east. South Beach faces the Atlantic and so the sun is rising over the ocean.

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Miami Sunrise Panorama
Miami Sunrise Panorama taken from the Port of Miami

Regarding that, I was looking at this picture and wondering to myself why the sun was rising over the ocean? In all my photos from the west coast of Florida the sun sets on the ocean. I realized of course that this is the east coast and, I live on the west coast facing the other direction. Sometimes I get disoriented when traveling.

I grew up in the California Valley and I could always orient myself with the Sierra Nevada Mountains; they lie to the east. Out of habit, when traveling I try to orient to some elevated landmark. But Florida is flat so I rely on the sun for bearings. Naturally it seemed to me the sun was rising in the wrong place. At least that’s my excuse for now.

more panoramas

Because this is made up of multiple shots stitched together the resolution is very high. This prints out at about six feet by two feet at full resolution. That allows for details not possible with a single frame. It’s little like standing in the deck of the ship with binoculars and looking out, only in this case I used a high-resolution camera and a lucky perspective.

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Cityscape Panorama Across Sarasota Bay

This is a cityscape panorama across Sarasota Bay. To create this I took three vertical images using a 55 mm lens and then stitched them together in Autopano Giga. The reason I did that rather than use a wide angle lens is it creates a realistic view of the scene whereas wide angle lenses tend to distort the sky. Each method has its use.

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Cityscape Panorama Across Sarasota Bay
This is a cityscape panorama across Sarasota Bay.

My guess is that these sailboats are in a mooring field. There is another mooring field on the other side of that bridge just out of sight. That one is busy but this one seems to be long term as I’ve seen the same sailboats sit here for years.

The day was a little hazy but the clouds added an extra dimension to the sky. These types of scenes, urban panoramas across the water, represent a technique I find appealing. Sky and water frame a cityscape and create a different perspective. It’s a little like looking down from an airplane only in this case we’re looking across. I have a coffee table book I’m working on called Sea and Sky; it has a few images like this.

Another thing I like about these stitched-together panoramas is that the image is very high resolution. That’s good for two reasons; it allows the viewer to zoom in and explore the details and, it can be used to create large prints. This resolution of this image can produce a print that is six feet across without losing detail. That makes it suited for large spaces like offices or hallways.

more panoramas

In a few years camera sensors will capture more detail than they do today. Actually these already exist but are specialized for surveillance and mapping. However soon even landscape photographers like myself will have them. And when that happens we’ll be able to pass the time just exploring the details of a scene like this on someone’s large wall.

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Panorama of Coal Harbour

This is a panorama of Coal Harbour in Vancouver. I took this in the middle of summer after a trip to Alaska. When I’m in Vancouver I like to walk along this path. There are always a lot of people out walking, jogging and cycling. Also I think proximity to the water is a good way to clear out the cobwebs.

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Panorama of Coal Harbour

The original image is even wider but I cropped it because I thought it was too wide. This portion is composed of five photos stitched together in Autopano Giga. It’s a good tool and once you get the hang of it it’s easy to produce panoramas.

One thing I like about panoramas like this is the amount of detail. For instance, I’ve walked by this spot for years and I never noticed the house boats. While processing this photo I zoomed in to take a closer look. Next time I walk by I’ll be sure to stop and look again.

vancouver gallery

It’s also fun to see what people are doing. Most of them are just walking along and talking with friends. Off to the left is the Weston Hotel, that stands out in my mind because local otters like to use the pool there. How they climb out of the water and find a nearby pool is beyond me. They’re smart little critters aren’t they?

There is always something going on here, always something to see. There are a lot of awesome places in Vancouver but this is one of my favorite.

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Just Before Dawn

This is the city of Toronto just before dawn on a Sunday morning. There’s something about the electricity of a city that is attractive, I think it’s something in our nature. I used to live here for a dozen years, it was at a time I stopped doing photography, now when I go back I bring my camera.

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Just Before Dawn
Just Before Dawn in Toronto, Ontario Canada

This spot is just east of the city, I’m sure it’s popular with photographers but there were none here at this hour. I guess I was a little lucky with the timing because just as I was finishing up it started raining. Not that I mind a little rain, but being in a deserted industrial site in the rain at this hour is, well, less fun than sitting in a Starbucks with a spiced pumpkin latte.

Another good thing about showing up late or early to locations like this, the water is smooth as there are no boats moving about. That creates the smooth reflections which are further enhanced by the long exposure. So despite the cold, the rain and the ungodly hour, this is the perfect time and setting for photography.

more panoramas

In fact this is a three image panorama. I took three, eight-second exposures side by side with a tripod and then stitched them together. The end result is a high resolution image that I can enjoy from the comfort of a warm room while sipping a latte and thinking to myself “that’s wasn’t so bad, was it?”