inspired photography with just enough perspective
I got up to watch the sun come up from behind the Superstition Mountains in Apache Junction. I arrived from Florida the other day where we don’t have anything taller than a palm tree. Mountains rise up out of the desert landscape of Phoenix providing a unique characteristic to the land. I drove around in the predawn darkness looking for a vista and found this location on BLM land in Apache Junction.
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I took this from the banks of the Manatee River as it flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Because of the tides the river flows in both directions so it’s not a typical river in that sense. We do see dolphins and manatees swimming by so it’s always fun to look out over the water. That was the idea I had in mind when I took this, just get down low and look out across as the sun rises over the opposite bank.
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Seems I’m on a lifeguard stand theme. Whenever I show up they’re deserted, don’t suppose there’s much need for lifeguards to be around at sunrise and sunset. This was at Jensen Beach on Florida’s east coast. As I recall, I got up pretty early and it was only me and a few of those guys with metal detectors. I’m not sure why they are so dedicated to get out as early as they do. Do they really find enough to make it worth their while? I don’t know, I’m just not feeling it.
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I managed to get out early this morning to capture these crazy clouds we’ve had for the last few days. This is only three minutes from my home so I’ve been here many times and whenever I show up in the morning I see this same Heron. I think this is his little stretch of shoreline where he fishes and lives out his days under the Florida sun and stars. I’ve seen him so often that pretty soon we’ll be on a first name basis, and then just maybe he’ll ignore me while I take his picture.
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Pelicans get real busy at sunrise and sunset, they all seem to be going to and fro, a little like commuting to work. During the day they hang around the piers and fishing boats, but at night I think they must have certain places they like to bed down at. The more I look at the animal kingdom, the more things I find in common with us humans. In fact, to aliens animals and humans might look even more similar than we’d consider ourselves. Anyway, I hope you all have a great week and may your commute be as smooth as that of the pelicans. 😉
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These are a set of flowers in a field that I captured shortly after sunrise on Anna Maria Island. There are worlds which exist at different scales that we pass by each day. Every now and again I am reminded of that through photography.
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Caught one morning on Anna Maria Island. At the crack of dawn Pelicans are busy. The wake up call from the sun sets these fellas about their business, as though they have important jobs to get to, …like sitting on a pole. I’m not great at patiently sitting in one spot, but that’s what you need to do to catch stuff, …fish, photos, …etc. For this I stayed only about three minutes in one spot and noticed his intent, or got lucky. The perfect perch for a Pelican to sit and observe the world while waiting for the next meal to swim by, or photographer, whichever comes first.
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The glow of the mountain tops as the sun rises over Queenstown. I was on a mountain one morning concentrating on getting everything in focus and I goofed, the background got blurred. I later learned about hyper-focal distance which is a combination of aperture, lens size and distance to ensure everything is in focus. It’s a complicated calculation but luckily there is an app for that. On second thought, I like the effect of the blur and I’ll work on my hyper-focal distance calculation another day. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Florida is emerging from the crash of the US real estate market. Near where I live is an abandoned development where all the roads and utilities where built but not a single house. I’ve never been on the property myself, but I took this one morning from a spot that looks over the mangroves along the river onto the abandoned development. Folks in my town of Palmetto expect that someone will revive the project at some point. And when they do, some lucky homeowner is going to wakeup to a sunrise like this each morning. I’m thinking that’s probably worth a penny or two in property value. Just a guess.
I live along the Manatee River in Manatee County Florida and so I’ve got a lot of opportunities to capture a sunrise over the water. All things being equal I think taking pictures at sunrise is more enjoyable because there are fewer people out and of course the water is usually calm. The only challenge is waking up and getting out. Traveling west across time zones usually gives me an advantage, I can wake up at 4 and it seems like 7. But then if it’s cold outside, …well you get it. So the biggest problem of all is my own procrastination and laziness. But, every once in a while I get up and get out and this is the result. Pardon me while I pat myself on the back. 😉
