sonyalpha Archives - Page 82 of 85

January 5, 2016January 5, 2016

Two Cathedrals

This is a composite of the inside of two cathedrals in Barcelona. One is the gothic Cathedral of Barcelona and the other is the post gothic Sagrada Família which was designed by Antoni Gaudi. The two edifices could not be more different. The only thing they have in common is they are Roman Catholic. The architecture of the gothic is filled with repeating lines and arches and domes whereas Gaudi has created a masterwork of modern art and design that is both organic and audacious.

Big heavy words alert!!! 🙂

In both photos I was standing in the middle of the cathedral looking straight up. I since wondered what would happen if the two were merged, and this is one possible result. A clash of ideas, a combination of opposing forces.

To me this might highlight the idea of the duality and its fusion back into singularity. Simply put, duality is two halves of a whole. We see it in every aspect of life around us. But what happens if we merge back to a singular state rather than opposing perspectives. This quickly gets metaphysical and takes us into uncharted waters, but you get my drift. Its just a crazy idea I’ve had from time to time.

In effect, this image is an abstract thought exercise that imagines the re-combining of two ideas into one. Or, if you prefer, this is how I doodle and daydream.

January 4, 2016January 4, 2016

Entering The Port

This weekend I was in Fort Lauderdale where I captured this ship entering the Port of the Everglades. This was just one of a half dozen or so I watched from the beach in the predawn hours. My hotel faced the Atlantic so that I could see the ships all lined up single file as they waited to enter the port. The preceding evening it was the reverse with the ships streaming out in the opposite direction.

I walked down to the very end of the beach along the jetty at the entry to the port. Standing there the ships pass so close I could probably hit them with a beach ball. It’s a strange feeling standing there as a tremendous amount of mass passes only meters away. It overloads my simple mind. I’ll bet the people in those apartment buildings have quite the show each day.

The orange light coming over the apartment buildings is the light from the port bouncing off of the clouds we had Sunday morning. The whole scene was surreal and totally unexpected. I love little surprises like that, especially when I’m out with my camera. It’s been said that photography is fifty percent just getting out and putting yourself in a place where something might happen. Sometimes it works out and of course I get really excited when it does, kind of like hitting a great golf shot. This image for me is a three hundred yard tee-shot straight down the middle of the fairway. I better stop now before I start mixing my metaphors.

January 1, 2016January 1, 2016

Into the Light

Out from the dark and into the light. This image could be a metaphor for all kinds of things. It’s a new year and so maybe this is a metaphor for new beginnings, or perhaps nothing at all. Meaning is in the eyes and mind of the beholder, so whatever this makes you think of is cool.

In one respect images are like a Rorschach Test. We each look at the ink blot and see something different, something constructed from our inner world of associations, thoughts and emotions. I just happened to snap this while standing under the bridge, it’s just a picture. But now that I look at it, it reminds me of other things completely. For you the thoughts invoked are surely different.

These are my favorite kinds of images, those that bridge the gap between mundane and metaphor. I think having a person in an image allows me to project myself into the scene, either as the observer or the observed. It’s a matter of perspective. I project myself as the person with the bike which is kind of funny because in real life I was the observer with the camera. In a manner of speaking, I switched roles between the time I took this and the time I viewed it. Maybe this is a lot of gibberish about nothing, or maybe there’s an insight. I suppose that depends on what we choose to take out of it. For me perhaps it’s a metaphor for going into the light.

In any case, Happy New Year everyone.

December 30, 2015

Watching the Sun Set

People watching the sunset over the water is something I see all the time here in Florida; not just once in a while, but ALL THE TIME. 😉 And it’s a little more organized than you might think. Every evening there are groups of people who have gathered together with fold-up chairs at the beach to experience this event together. Sometimes, like on the evening I took this, it’s just a few people. However at another beach I’m thinking of there could be as many as twenty. This is serious business down here in the sunshine state.

I know of a mobile home park along the water that has permanent chairs set up facing west for just this purpose. I know that because I’ve seen them all line up, drinks in hand, watching the sun set. What a life.

Sometimes when I see these groups on the beach I think they are church groups or maybe a meditation circle, because before the sun sets they’re all in a circle discussing or singing or playing drums. Its kind of like something I’d expect to see in California, not here in Florida.

I’m developing a theory that if you live someplace where it’s warm and has a lot of sunsets you are more likely to be mellow. Okay, so I’m no Einstein, I suppose its just common sense, self-evident.    On a related note, I’ve heard that we Floridians are called stone-slackers. I have an inkling about what the connotation is and I think there’s more than a seed of truth in that.

It’s no wonder so many people come here to retire. After living a hectic life, why not?    Well, I’m probably not a stone slacker yet because I’m not retired, but when and if I do, I’m in the right place. I already have a fold-up chair, all I need now is a drum.

December 29, 2015December 29, 2015

Fort De Soto Beach

Visits to the beach

This is Fort De Soto Beach a couple of days ago. With the holiday over we decided to head to the beach and unwind. This is a section that looks across towards the Sunshine Skyway Bridge as it enters Tampa Bay. I don’t spend as much time at the beach as you might think. I go for photography quite a bit, but to sit and vegetate, rarely. I suppose that’s common among us who live here, we take it for granted. I go maybe two or three times a year. But as I say, for photography I go many more times than that. In the end it doesn’t matter because I do spend time along the shore with the waves, breeze and sunsets; I do not take that for granted, at least not yet.

How I created the Image

I worked on this image for several hours this evening. I used a motion blur and carefully blended the original layer. Prior to that I created about ten layers in Photoshop to carefully craft the image to an idea I had in my minds eye. Then finally I used a Lightroom preset to give it an overall desaturated tone.

What I was thinking at the time

You may understand some of these technical details but if not, no worries. The point is, on some images I spend a lot of time and effort to transform an image into something resembling a dreamscape. For no other reason than I like to and, I think that dreams can be just as important as ordinary life. I’ve heard that we make our own reality, so if that’s true, then sometimes I like to create a reality that is a little bit ethereal like a dream, one that I would like to inhabit if I could; at least in my mind.

December 28, 2015

Country Oak

This is a country oak I found along the highway in the outer reaches of my county. I see these whenever I drive along the pastures east of my home. Yesterday I just had to stop and take a picture. Normally these oaks are shelter from the hot Florida sun for the cattle and so it’s not uncommon to find several in the shade. For whatever reason there were no cattle here and so the simplicity of the scene grabbed my attention.

When is warm and humid, we get these rows of clouds stretching as far as the eye can see. In this case there was another layer above that creating a spectacle in the sky. For whatever atmospheric reason, the clouds form readily at mid day over the rural areas, but as you get closer to the coast and beaches, the clouds disappear; not always but most of the time. On the west end of the county is pristine beaches of the Gulf of Mexico, the eastern end is mostly farming and ranches. The beaches and the rural sections seem to each have their own distinct climates.

After I titled this image Country Oak it occurred to me that indeed this is a common name. There are streets like Country Oak Lane; developments like Country Oak Estates; and schools like Country Oak Middle School, …the list goes on. I never really thought about it before now, but the idea of Country Oaks seem to be iconic and somewhat popular around here. And here I thought it was all about the beaches.

December 27, 2015December 27, 2015

Queenstown Gardens

This was taken inside Queenstown Gardens which is situated right in the middle of Queenstown. It’s kind of like Central Park for Queenstown, yet even as I write that I know it’s not a good analogy. Surrounded by mountains, Queenstown has nothing in common with New York City. Maybe a better analogy would be Stanley Park in Vancouver, yes, I think so. Only Queenstown is not as commercial as Vancouver and is many times smaller. So if Vancouver were one-tenth its size then the comparison might be truer; so much for analogies.

I came here with a group of photographers on the first day of a workshop with Trey Ratcliff. We arrived before dawn along the shores of Lake Wakatipu. We then walked and took photos for several miles, ending up here still quite early in the morning. The shadows were long in the morning sun and the clouds were puffy; all elements to consider in composition, which was one of the themes of the workshop. As compositions go, this is so-so, not one of my best. Even so, looking at this now brings back fond memories of the chilly autumn morning.

After about an hour here we loaded onto a bus and headed for a well-deserved breakfast at a hotel overlooking the lake. After almost two years, I still believe that New Zealand has some of the most scenic landscapes on the planet. I also think they make a pretty good breakfast. So if you can put those two concepts together, that amount sums up my first morning.

December 22, 2015December 22, 2015

Bormuth Tapas Bar

Bormuth Tapas Bar is located in the El Born / La Ribera section of Barcelona. It’s in a labyrinth of streets and shops. Of all the places I visited in this city, this area was most enjoyable to get lost in. I snapped this shot as I was walking around at night, but later learned from TripAdvisor that it has great ratings. Had I not just left another Tapas bar a few minutes before I would have stopped here for a quick nosh. This area is so fun I could imagine living in Barcelona just to hang out here and talk late into the night, or wander around with my camera.

Tapas is the way to go, a little bit of this, a little bit of that and some good Spanish wine to wash it all down. I’ve noticed a few Tapas bars popping up near my home in Florida lately. If I were to make a prediction I would guess that Tapas will grow in popularity here in North America. It just seems like a reasonable way to eat, kind of like a Spanish version of Dim Sum.

To take this photo I used an ISO of 5000 which is quite high. That and the in-camera image stabilization allows me to capture a night scenes like this that would not have been possible a year ago without a tripod. Capturing images at night is one of my favorite types of photography, the mood is transformed from the stark light of day and somehow it evokes more feelings and imagination, at least for me.

So here I am, lost in a labyrinth, having just had Tapas and wine, and lost in the joy of my favorite type of photography at the same time. What could be better?

December 22, 2015

Afternoon at Fort DeSoto Beach

Over the weekend I spent the afternoon at Fort DeSoto beach watching the waves and taking a few pictures. This is one of my favorite spots, its remote and in the afternoon there are few people. There is also a campground near by so you can walk or ride a bike here, watch the sunset and then head back to sit around the campfire. That’s what this family did as it started to get dark.

Just off the coast is Egmont Key which is a deserted island, a little like the island in Lost.

Around this time of the day you might see a cruise ship sail past this point on its way out of Tampa Bay towards the Gulf of Mexico. Winter it’s a busy time for cruises so we tend to see a lot of ships coming and going. Something about those gigantic ships is mesmerizing to watch, especially in the evenings when they are all lit up, like moving cities. If you get up early, you see them going in the opposite direction as they come into port.

Only after I moved to the Tampa area did I learn about cruises. A few years back I took my first cruise out of here and sailed right past this spot. I had so much fun I didn’t want it to end. Nevertheless, I got up early on the last morning to see all the familiar landmarks I’d only ever seen from shore.

December 20, 2015

Typical Day in Collioure

Actually, I have no idea if this is a typical day or not, I’ve only been here once. But because it was a Tuesday and not the weekend, I have to assume it was typical. I guess I’ll have to wait until I come back to be sure. The beach is protected by a seawall and the shops are all open and outdoor bistros serve beer, wine, coffee and pastries. Personally I could get used to this as a typical day. We stopped along here and had a drink at one of the cafes as we watched the everything around us. If I did live here I’d probably live to be a ripe old age, playing checkers or bocci ball with the other escapees from modern civilization. Then I’d sit and have a glass of red wine while I watched the people go by. Then I’d get up in the morning and do it all again. Just another typical day in Collioure, France.