It Just Seems That Way

This is another image from Bean Point at the tip of Anna Maria Island. There is no parking and so the only people that show up here are those living or staying within walking distance. That’s why it’s one of my favorite places for photography at sunset.

It Just Seems That Way
We are not insignificant, but sometimes it just seems that way.

A continuing theme for me is to use clouds in an image to represent proportion and scale. So typically people or manmade subjects become small in relation to the clouds and surrounding environment. The purpose is to draw attention to the scale of nature around us. For me the message is one of reintegration into our otherwise ignored surroundings.

More images of Anna Maria Island from the gallery

Only after I became a photographer did I even begin to notice things around me, such as the formation of clouds. Now I look at the world different from before, I see our existence in relation to our environment. That provides a sense of perspective, something to glimpse a grander scale of things. Without that we tend to focus on small things in front of our faces without ever looking up. It’s like zooming out on a map; we begin to seem insignificant. But of course we are not, it just seems that way.

Letting Time Pass

Here is a shot of The Rod and Reel, a local favorite on Anna Maria Island. I took this after dusk on a Friday night. It was the tail end of dusk so the clouds had a hint of the color.

Letting Time Pass
Letting time pass at the Rod and Reel on Anna Maria Island

Here you can get a brew or have a meal while you sit on the pier surrounded by the tropical waters of the Gulf. For a few dollars you can get some bait and rent a pole. The nice thing about that is you won’t need a fishing license so it’s usually the first place I take out-of-state guests that want to fish. I could think of worse places to sit for a few hours.

If you watch the waters you’ll see dolphins and manatees swimming by. People come here at night to fish for shark, it’s not uncommon. Not something I might not do, but hey, I could if I wanted to.

More night photography from the gallery

This is a thirteen-second exposure and so it causes the water to appear smooth. That’s an effect I like a lot, I could do long exposures all the time and never get tired of it. A little like time surfing, whatever that means. I think of it as taking a stretch of time and compressing it. When we do that to water it creates a wave. So here I’m letting some time pass and then compressing it to make this image. Maybe a little bit shaky as a metaphor, but I’m on Anna Maria Island so who cares.

East View

I’m standing on the pier at Fort DeSoto Park in St Petersburg looking east at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge on a Sunday afternoon. That’s the bait shop on the right where you can get a few items while you fish on the pier or wait for the ferry. This is a nice place to check out if you come here to visit.

East View
This view looks east into Tampa Bay through the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

They also have a campground not too far from this spot as well. I’m born and raised in California so I’m not sure what its like to camp near the beach in Florida. When I think camping I think of mountains, lakes and streams. Wouldn’t it would be too warm for a sleeping bag? I think my three season bag would be uncomfortably hot. Maybe just a light blanket is all I’d need. The more I think about it the more I think I should try. Who knows, I might like it.

I just noticed that you can see the whole length of the main span of the Skyway from here. In total it’s about ten miles across the bay, here we see about five miles of it.

More from the beach gallery

Anyway, now I can’t stop thinking about that camping idea. I think I’m going to try it out. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Before Dawn

This is another long exposure of the public pier at Anna Maria Island in Florida. It was just before dawn and as usual there were already a few people milling about, mostly fishermen or those who came only to watch the sunrise; another typical morning at AMI.

Before Dawn
Before dawn on Anna Maria Island

Probably because of where I live I’m fascinated by bridges and piers, we seem to have a lot of both. How they make these piers, one piling at a time is amazing. To me its counter intuitive to think that you can build a solid structure into the floor of the sea. Even though it’s only a few meters deep it’s submerged. How they drill and then make sure the piling is stable is something I’d like to understand.

More images from Anna Maria Island

Pilings are big business here on the gulf coast because there are a lot of companies that specialize in it. It seems there’s always construction in the water and most of it is concerned with pilings. On the other side of AMI, facing the gulf, they are building a pier. It seems to me that the work is super slow, they’ve been at it for almost a year, but I suppose that’s the nature of the job. You don’t want to leave it to just any Tom, Dick or Harry.

Anyway, thanks to the folks that make these pilings we can sit on a pier and wait for dawn as though we hadn’t a care in the world.

Two Worlds

I think the reason I gravitate to these types of images has to do with an idea. I imagine an ethereal world that coexists with the one we’re in. If more than one radio frequency can exist in the same place, perhaps it applies to other things as well. Images like this are like focusing an imaginary lens on a world nearly adjacent to our own. The image has parts of this world and parts in the next, a peek through the veil.

Two Worlds
Images like this are like seeing this world and the next, together at the same time.

When I took this I was on approach to the ferry pier at Fort DeSoto Park. I sat at the front of the boat as we returned from Egmont Key. My idea was to capture the pier from the perspective of the water, yet I wasn’t quite satisfied with the result. That’s when my right brain took over and I imagined a world just out of vision yet overlapping with this.

some of my favorite images from the gallery

I suppose another reason I gravitate towards images like this is the theme of simplicity. I’ve been posting about that recently. Living in a complex world I long for simplicity, so when I let go of critical thinking for a moment I gravitate to a more relaxed place. In that world the water is smoother and the clouds flowing. It’s a world that surely exists my mind, and for all I know, beyond that.

Pure and Simple

These surf kites at the midpoint of the Sunshine Skyway in Tampa and can be seen for miles away whenever there’s a breeze. Once in a while I’ll pull off the highway to watch. The main impression I get is of the contrast of these colorful canopies moving against the sky. They are mesmerizing to watch and this is a simplification of that scene as it appears in my minds eye.

Pure and Simple
Making things pure and simple is a good way to go, at least I try in my photography.

The wind here changes direction from one day to the next and depending on that the surfers alternate from one side of the causeway to the other. The spectacle of the scene is so compelling it’s a wonder there aren’t accidents as drivers crane their heads to get a look.

In my way of thinking, I’m always trying to simplify things. I work and live in a complex world and what helps is if I can simplify the complexity a bit. I do this by removing things that I feel are unnecessary to the central core or subject of a thing. In this case, the subject is little colorful kites in a big sky, so to convey that I needed to remove as many distractions as possible. I think this might not be a bad philosophy to live by. In fact it’s called de-cluttering, and now there are de-clutter coaches you can hire to help with de-cluttering you life. We’ll, I’m no guru or coach, but I do like to get to the essence of a thing, and in this case, it’s all about the kites.

Pure and simple.

Some other images with or around this bridge

Deep Blue Sea

This was the scene as night descended on the Fort DeSoto fishing pier. I can never get enough of this place and will probably keep coming back here again and again. I took this as the sky turned from blue to black and the mood and scene changed by the minute. My perspective is towards the West which means it looks out into the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This is the direction the cargo and cruise ships take when leaving Tampa.

Deep Blue Sea
Deep Blue Sea of the Gulf of Mexico

I like the idea of looking out to an infinity of space. I think it plays a bit of havoc with my mind since I can never fully appreciate the size and mass of things like oceans, but then maybe I’m not meant to. Suffice to say its food for thought, forever an enigma.

Piers or old bridges that have become piers are used by fishermen at all hours of the night here in Florida. Right now it seems we’re in a good fishing season because I’m seeing a lot of people with fish in their buckets or on their lines. Getting outside on a warm night with a fishing pole is probably the closest thing to heaven for many who live or visit here. Myself, I’m just happy to take pictures of the scenes, thats my form of heaven, that and the deep blue bottomless sea.

More images of piers from the gallery

South Jetty

This is taken In Venice Florida at a jetty leading into the intercostal waterway. This is the South Jetty, the other side is the North Jetty. I’ve always gone to the North Jetty to take pictures, it’s a little hard to find but I know the way and it’s one of my favorite locations. I’ve always looked across to the South Jetty and wondered how to get here. I’ve tried a few times and always ended up in dead ends. So a couple of weeks ago I finally figured it out and I couldn’t be more embarrassed. It’s way easier to get to than the North Jetty, just drive through Venice, take a right, and you’re here.

South Jetty
This is the South Jetty in Venice Florida, along the gulf coast.

How did we get ever along without a GPS. Does anyone read maps anymore? They still sell them but I think map reading is becoming a lost skill. Pretty soon we’ll just talk to our self driving cars and Siri will drive us. I could have said, “Hey Siri, drive me to the South Jetty” and I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have ended up in a dead end.

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That day when Siri does the driving is coming soon. I think all the technology is in place and it’s now just a matter of the laws and regulations catching up. Our cell phones are extensions of ourselves, why not our cars? Hey Siri, drive me to the map store. I wonder if she knows what that is?

See more images from Sarasota County

Out of the Box

This image is right out of the box, basically just as I shot it, nothing added or subtracted. I consider myself a pictorialist and it’s not often that I post an image that I haven’t processed, but this just seems to work for me.

Out of the Box
This image is out of the box, meaning it has not been processed or enhanced.    Obtain a print

I took this on Fort Lauderdale beach in southern Florida along the Atlantic coast. I got up early one morning to take pictures before the beach got too crowded. Actually, this was my second walk on the beach, I had been here before sunrise as well but as you can see the beach was still quite deserted, normal I suppose for a Sunday morning.

check out more images in the Florida gallery

One thing that struck me was how the sand felt. As I walked my feet would sink in several inches, almost as though it were a type of quicksand. That made for an arduous trek up and down the beach. Another way to put it would be to say it was a good workout; either way it took serious effort. Anyway these imprints were left in the sand where others had walked. I like how it looks well trodden yet empty at the same time.

Funny thing is I didn’t notice the seagull when I took the picture. That happens a lot, I’m usually so engrossed in looking for a scene that things can happen that I don’t see until I look at it later. I think that’s just a natural consequence of being out taking photos, good stuff is bound to happen.

Coastal Fog

I took this in British Columbia while returning from a whale watching trip at a group of islands just offshore. Patches of fog started to form in the afternoon as we made our way back to port. The coast of BC can be treacherous and only the most experience sailors have any right to navigate here. There were buoys with bells and fog horns everywhere. The fog renders your eyes useless and so without electronics you must navigate by ear; not for the faint of heart. Even so it makes for ethereal scenery, especially from a boat.

Coastal Fog
Coastal Fog near Ucluelet, British Columbia                                           Prints

There is an automated lighthouse in Ucluelet not too far from here. Basically the horn begins sounding whenever the fog rolls in. I’m sure it’s reassuring to sailors because from what I saw the fog rolls in pretty fast. I was told the month of August is also known as “Fogust”. Standing safely on shore I could hear the bells of the buoys and the horn of the lighthouse for miles around. When I first arrived the sounds were new and unusual but by the time I left they’d become an integral part of the sights and sounds of these costal communities.

more black and white images from the blog

There are many forms of water in nature but perhaps not so often do we think about it in it’s gaseous state. Yet it can shroud the sky, land and water in a cloak that despite it’s willowy nature, becomes impenetrable to all but the most skilled among us. It was after staying here a week that I gained a whole new respect for sailors and, for that matter, pilots too.

more black and white images from the gallery