water Archives - Page 17 of 19

January 14, 2016

Sunset at Mile Rock Beach

I did a ton of these photos during sunset at Mile Rock Beach while in San Francisco. When I find myself in the right spot at the right time I go a little shutter crazy and end up taking dozens of photos. I’m going to reserve judgement and just say that’s a good thing.

The Pacific coast is lined with these big rocks just off shore. I imagine that back in the old days there were shipwrecks during storms and now are historical sights to dive and explore. The two furthest rocks here are Lobos Rock on the left and Blackhead Rock just right of center. They must be well known to mariners.

I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with the past. When I look at photos of a scene my brain looks for context, we all do that. So with a scene like this, or something completely different like the street scene from Barcelona I posted the other day, I take a step back in four dimensions. By that I just mean just naturally tent to view a scene or subject from a context outside the current moment. I’m not sure why I do that, maybe everyone does it and it’s not unusual. I wonder if there is a name for that? Good, bad or indifferent it does open up a whole new world of perspectives, especially in my photography.

So there you go, time travel 101.

January 10, 2016January 10, 2016

Waves at Sunset

This was taken in the last days of the year when I went to the beach to watch the waves at sunset. The waves were the result of a storm that blew off of the gulf. As I recall the evening was warm, more so than normal.

Hard as I might try to the contrary, I take days like this for granted. The winter warmth is not as appreciated by me as much as you might think. That’s simply because I live here and I’m used to it. Even so I do take advantage of what the area around my home has to offer. For instance I enjoy walking the beach. That might sound cliche, but it’s one of the things people do here. I do it mostly for photography because I will typically see something interesting, either in front of me or in my minds eye. It’s as though those walks help to prod my artistic muse.

Prior to moving here it would never have entered my mind to go to the beach just to walk and take pictures, yet now I do it. And when I’m away I feel a longing for those walks and the sound of the waves. I guess thats some new part of my makeup, something new I’ve discovered I like. I guess we are always developing new things we like, unconsciously evolving some new aspect of ourselves.

Despite taking scenes like this for granted, I find that when I return from a trip I become subtly aware aware of the Florida climate as though it was something new. As I write this I’m traveling and have warm clothes in my suitcase as I sit in a hotel room with the heater on. It is a real possibility that when I return I’ll drive to the beach and go for a walk with my camera. Then I’ll probably say to myself how fortunate I am to live here and once again will appreciated it, …until such time as it becomes normal and I start taking it for granted again.

January 7, 2016January 7, 2016

Morning Walk On Carnon Beach

On my last day in France I went for a morning walk on Carnon Beach. Like the beaches in Florida this stretches for miles in each direction. Unlike the beaches in Florida the shore is carved into large semicircles on account of the breakwaters that are built to prevent erosion. You can see them here and if you look at the scene from Google Maps you’ll see what I mean.

In Florida, we have quite a bit of beach erosion from storms each year, at least on the gulf side. In fact the local government repairs the beach every few years. By that I mean that they dredge up the sand from a couple hundred meters off shore and deposit it back on the beach until it erodes again. In France it seems they take a different, less costly approach. The result is mile after mile of these large semicircle beaches. It creates more shore line and perhaps accommodates more people.

Both approaches to maintaining beaches have their pros and cons. However I’m more interested in taking pictures than trying to figure which is better. I spend a lot of time at the beaches in Florida so I have ideas on how to take pictures there. The beaches in Carnon however present new ideas and challenges that I only began to explore. Next time I go back I’ll explore that a little more.

January 6, 2016January 6, 2016

Riverwalk Fishing Pier

The Riverwalk Fishing Pier is in Bradenton not far from my home. I love coming here early in the morning when everything is quiet and the water is still. The way the weather works, as soon as the sun rises it generates a breeze which ripples the water, so the only way to see it glassy like this is before dawn.

The river flows into the Gulf of Mexico so it rises and falls with the tide. At high tide the pilings are mostly submerged. I’ve heard that decades ago there was a hurricane in the gulf and the water drained from the river before the onslaught of the storm surge. It was said you could walk across the riverbed. I’ve only lived here about ten years and not seen anything close to that, hopefully I never will.

I walk my dog here, he is a rescue. For some reason he is afraid of any walkway above the water and so piers are difficult for him. I’ve worked with him over the years to overcome that fear and now he’ll walk out to the end with me. I don’t rush him and I give him plenty of positive reinforcement. Whenever I see this pier it reminds me of how much progress he’s made. Life’s little pleasures.

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 17, 2015December 17, 2015

Bradenton Beach Elements

A few of days ago I arrived at Bradenton Beach just as the sun receded beyond a layer of clouds. I like photos that show people alongside the elements of nature. Something about the outdoors resonates with me and so I try to create images showing people immersed in nature. Living near the coast of Florida I have ample opportunity to explore this. Its safe to say that most of us love to hang out at the beach, not only because its fun, but because it satisfies a need to be outdoors with the elements. The sand, the ocean, the sky and clouds, these are all things we can easily feel affinity for. Maybe we don’t always think about it, we just long for the relaxation and fun, but I think that on another level relaxation and fun come from being exposed to things that are not artificial. This is just a long winded way of saying it’s nice to get outdoors, and what better way to do that then time on a beach. So anyway, here I am, standing on the beach and I noticed these two enjoying the last rays of the sun. I’ll hazard a guess that they had some fun and went home a little more relaxed then when they arrived, I rest my case your honor.

December 16, 2015December 16, 2015

River Crossings

These are the Manatee River Crossings between the towns of Bradenton and Palmetto in Florida. The furthest bridge is for cars and the closer one for trains. I am standing on a taller third bridge looking down. The river is so wide here that I think before these bridges were built, the two towns must have been quite different, as they were only accessible to each other by boat. Now the towns are in the same county and we cross the bridges without a thought. As the towns grow a new bridge is under construction up stream from here.

To take this shot I walked to this spot atop the third bridge using the bike lane. I then stood here with my tripod taking in the scene as the sun rose and the thick clouds hung in the air. These along with the still morning surface of the river created an ethereal quality that I wanted to capture. After taking the photo I walked back down off the bridge against the flow of early morning commuters. At about the same time the upraised span of the rail bridge lowered for the first train as it crossed the river.

These are the moments when the day begins. Many things happen during the day as we live our lives in close proximity, passing each other going this way and that. Then, at the end of the day, the crossings empty of trains and cars, and below them the calm waters of the river return.

December 13, 2015

Remarkable Mountains

This is the Remarkable Mountains as viewed from Kelvin Heights above Queenstown New Zealand. Kelvin Heights is the name I get when I Google it, however the locals call it Deer Park Heights. There is some kind of family dispute over this land, maybe that has something to do with the names, but I digress. I posted this image about a year and a half ago without the clouds but I thought I’d update the image because I prefer clouds in the sky. That morning the sky was rather dull, it was just after sunrise and it had snowed the day before. So, as I do with many of my images, I made it look a little different, the way I wished it had looked. Its like doodling with an image to see what works. For me this is better than the original. At the time I was in New Zealand on a workshop with Trey Ratcliff and I was just beginning to learn how to work with new tools for this kind of thing. I made many friends there as we all practiced composition and post processing with beautiful landscapes like this from all around Queenstown. Since then I’ve learned quite a lot and have developed a preference for a more imaginative style that at times is not at all realistic. If you’ve followed my work you know what I mean. I’m more into creating images from my minds eye, using photography as a tool. So, having gone back to this image I think I like it better than the first version which was more true to life. You may not agree, but that’s okay, on any given day I might just change my mind and agree with you.

December 11, 2015

Mount Edith Cavell Before Sunset

This is the view of Mount Edith Cavell from Jasper Park Lodge that I took one summer evening before sunset. I think it’s pretty amazing how long the days are in the summer up here. Its kind of hard to fathom, especially now that I’m writing this in winter when it gets dark many hours earlier. In the evening the angle of the sun is low enough to cast a soft light on everything. I understand that Iceland can be like that for months, I guess that’s next on my list. In any case, Mount Edith Cavell is one of the more iconic landmarks of the Canadian Rockies and having hiked up along side of it, I can say it is indeed massive, even when viewed from twenty kilometers away. A couple of days ago I wrote about the age of the trees in British Columbia. Well, these mountains are millions of years old. That really impresses me because just like the size of these mountains, their age is something I can never really wrap my mind around.

December 6, 2015December 10, 2015

Fishing on Anna Maria Island

Fishing on Anna Maia Island — Fishing on Anna Maria Island Obtain fine art print

On Anna Maria Island I have some favorite spots to hang out that are a little bit hidden and frequented more by the locals. This is opposite Coquina Beach and it’s a little dock where fishermen come to launch their boats around dawn. I was here walking around and noticed this guy casting his net and so stood a ways back trying to capture him in mid-throw. I think he noticed me and stopped throwing the net, maybe he was self conscious. I wandered off to leave the poor soul in peace. Hopefully he caught something because there were a couple of egrets waiting for anything he might pull up.