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Blowing in the Wind

Yesterday was the first day of the Sarasota Balloon Festival. I’ve never been to one of these, so I wandered over in the evening. The wind was prohibitive but at the last minute a few of the rigs inflated and put on a little glow show. They were tethered with ropes, but as they inflated the wind caused them to tilt like this. Just the spectacle of it was kind of cool, such massive devices with nothing but air, glowing and blowing in the wind.

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Blowing in the Wind

That was just the first night so I’ll check the weather and head back over to see more. Balloons are a great subject for photography. When I showed up there where no less than two dozen tripods setup and everyone else was snapping pics on their phones. Here’s a quick video I took with my iPhone.

some of my favorite images

There is also a carnival, so I wandered over to take some pictures of the midway with all the food vendors and rides. It reminded me of when I traveled all over the state of California from fair to fair selling magazines. I worked for a company that set up a booth and for a while I became a carny of sorts. That’s how I spent my high school summers and the smell of the funnel cakes brought all that back.

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HDR Sunrise

This is a re-edit of a photo I took over two years ago in Sarasota. Like an image I posted a few days ago, this was taken right next to the Ringling Bridge. It’s an area of Sarasota where the view is good in all directions which is why I keep coming back.

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HDR Sunrise
A sunrise from Sarasota’s Bird Key – this is an HDR image

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range which in this case was created by merging three images together. A few years ago, HDR photography was most of what I did, in fact it’s what got me back into photography after leaving film. But lately, I’ve not done much HDR. The main reason is that the cameras are so good you don’t need to combine images to get a High Dynamic Range. The other was my impatience with the software, it wasn’t always easy for me.

Fast forward to now. The reason I like this edit better than the original is because of some help I had with improved software. Recently a new version of Aurora HDR was released and it’s so good that I’m looking at HDR again. The image I posted the other day as well as this one was produced using Aurora HDR 2018. It’s easy to use and I’m very happy with the results.

more HDR images

So, there you have it, a little behind the scenes on what goes into these photos. That, and just hanging out at my favorite places along the water.

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Sunset over the Ringing Bridge

As a photographer I wonder if the architects of this bridge designed it with the setting sun in mind. It’s positioned such that in you get this view in the afternoon as you cross over to Bird Key. Sometimes if we are going to dinner in St Armand’s Circle we’ll cross the bridge at this time; heaven forbid I should have a camera.

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Sunset over the Ringing Bridge
I think the architects of the Ringling Bridge had this scene in mind.

If you scan through my portfolio, you’ll see a lot of photos on or, around this bridge. And yes, some were taken when I was heading to dinner. However, it’s such an iconic location that I’ll keep coming back to hopefully find something slightly different. I’ve worn it out for sure, but hey, who’s counting?

more sunset images

Often on a Sunday morning they’ll close the bridge for a run because this is the closest thing we have to a hill. Florida is really flat. If you want to see the landscape the easiest way is to walk or run up to the middle of the bridge. Of course, you could also stand on the top of a nearby hotel, but then you’d miss out on your exercise, not to mention the intentions of the bridge builders.

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Super Blue Blood Moon over Sarasota

Here is the super blue blood moon over Sarasota’s Ringling bridge. Boy, what a commotion this created. I was standing by myself along the water, nearly hidden by brush along the side of an empty section of road. Some passerby must have seen me and looked over to see what I was doing.

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Super Blue Blood Moon over Sarasota
This spectacle create quite the stir, around the world and right behind me.

As I was absorbed in my camera settings and composing the shot, I was oblivious to everything around me. At one point I heard someone’s voice and looked up to see a crowd of people standing behind me. There was all manner of smart phones taking this same picture with the little LED flashes going off.

Continuing the task at hand, a few minutes later I heard the sound of screeching breaks and horns. It seems the stopped cars nearly caused a traffic pileup. We were standing along a causeway of sorts with no safe place to pull over and park. Nevertheless, it seemed I started a trend, and everybody piled on for an iPhone photo.

more night photography

In the end I got a shot I had in my mind. Just taking a quick look at twitter there are millions of people doing the same thing. Anyway, I’m adding this one to the pile, even if it did nearly cause a pileup.

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A Familiar Scene

Here is another shot of a familiar scene along the Ringling Bridge in Sarasota. I posted a similar image from the same batch about a year ago, but this uses a different lens and processing. Nevertheless, it’s a scene and a location that I keep coming back to time and time again.

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A Familiar Scene
The Sarasota Bay along side of the Ringling Bridge

Sarasota Bay is an estuary and if you stand here you’ll see dolphins and other sea life. It’s under the stewardship of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program and if you visit their home page you notice another photo by yours truly. Due to the abundant sea life it’s a fishermen’s paradise and less than a hundred yards from where I’m standing is a bait shop. I could think if worse places to fish, …if I did.

more sunset images

If I didn’t do photography I’d have to fish, it’s kind of a requirement down here, everybody does it. Sometimes I’ll show up at a location by the water with a tripod in hand and fishermen will just assume it’s a fishing poll. But as I said I don’t fish, I take photos. If I need fish I get it the old-fashioned way, …from the supermarket.

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Sarasota Skyline at Night

Here is another panorama of Sarasota from Bayfront Park. Last year I posted an almost identical image that was taken during the day but have been waiting to do it again at night. Back then that big building (third from the left) was still under construction and it wasn’t lit up. So, now that it’s complete I wanted to shoot it again since the scene seems more complete to me.

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Sarasota Skyline at Night
Sarasota Skyline at night taken from Bayfront Park

To take this I mounted my camera vertically on a tripod and took ten shots from left to right. With the resolution of the Sony camera, it will be about seven feet across when printed!

Here are some links to other panoramas I’ve taken in and around Sarasota…

Same perspective from the day
From City Island Day
From City Island Night
A different perspective from Bayfront Park

And here are links to other panoramas from all over

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West Coast Sand

This boardwalk crosses over the dunes to Nokomis beach. Whenever you go to the beach here along the gulf coast you see these walkways. They protect the dunes which in turn protect the islands during storms. I like how they appear to provide a grand entrance to the beach.

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West Coast Sand
West coast sand in Florida is similar to white powder

The sand at the beaches around here is a fine white silica, almost like powder. I’m not aware of any other beaches that have this type of sand. My car has black floor boards and the white powdery sand gets all over it. When I was in the Caribbean I learned a trick from a local tour guide. That is, to keep a brush in the car to brush the sand from my feet before getting in. Not that sand is a big problem, but I’m a bit of a neat freak so little tricks help.

more gulf coast photos

The sand on the east coast of Florida is completely different. The first time I walked along the beach in Fort Lauderdale I was amazed at how hard it was. Your feet sink six inches with every step making any long walk a real chore. This west coast sand is much easier to walk on. Anyway, that’s probably way more that you ever wanted to know about sand.

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Daylight Savings

Here is another sunset from Lido Beach in Sarasota. I took this a few months ago around eight o’clock but now that it’s almost winter the sun goes down three hours earlier. If you ask me that’s a big change to adjust to. Part of it is due to the seasons but it’s also due to daylight savings that we have here in the US.

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Daylight Savings
Daylight Savings at Florida’s Ledo Beach

Why do we change our clocks twice a year? As far as I can tell it’s based on an outdated notion of efficiency. In this era of automation I think that daylight savings may have outlived its usefulness. One thing it succeeds at is confusing our bodies twice a year. Wouldn’t it be more natural to just stay in one time zone? Other countries do it without problems.

more sunset photos

If the sun set a little latter then we could enjoy longer afternoons. In Florida it would make a difference for folks who come down in winter to go to the beach. Anyway, I’m not the only one thinking about this, the idea is picking up traction. Maybe we can do away with daylight savings soon. Something tells me this might be one thing we can all agree on.

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Oasis in Plain Sight

One of the things I like most about Sarasota is their public spaces. This is a good example of that, an oasis in plain sight.

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Oasis in Plain Sight
Oasis in plain sight – Bayfront Park in Sarasota

I took this in the middle of summer when we get amazing clouds. I don’t normally take pictures of city parks but this one is situated right on the inter-coastal waterway so I couldn’t resist.

Every time I drive by this park seems empty. I’m not sure if people just aren’t aware of it or what, but it’s the perfect spot. Just stop the car, walk over to the water and sit on a bench. As far as parks go this is one of the prettiest in the area.

more Sarasota photos

This is an HDR image; I took three photos with different exposures and combined them in AuroraHDR. It makes it possible the show the whole range of light when there are extreme ranges like this. It’s hard to take an image like this any other way.

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Dunes at Lido Beach

Here is a simple image I took from the dunes at Lido Beach. I was part of a last minute rush by locals and tourists alike to get to the beach and watch the sunset. There was no convenient parking so I double-parked and walked over to the dunes to take this. Not really a smart idea but it worked; at least this time.

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Dunea at Lido Beach
Dunes at Lido Beach in Sarasota

It looks like I was on the dunes but I was on a path; it’s not good to walk on the dunes because it wrecks the plants. The plants preserve the dunes, which in turn preserve the islands during a storm. The island in this case is Ledo Key, which is one of my favorite places in Sarasota because I usually get nice pictures whenever I come here.

more beach images

Anyway, when I see these sunsets I go into full photography mode. What should be a serene experience is a little more stressful. I like to think it’s the good kind of stress, creative stress. That’s usually followed by the satisfaction of having captured a good sunset. Somehow I manage to survive these frequent episodes; at least I did this time.