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Overhead Shot of Coquina Beach

Here is an overhead shot of Coquina Beach I took last summer. The camera is pointing west but the beach is diagonal. It’s something I never noticed from the ground. In this case I was standing about a mile up the beach recording video of the waves and stopped to shoot this still. I still think it’s strange that I can be taking photos remotely.

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Overhead Shot of Coquina Beach
Overhead shot of Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island, Florida

When I’m flying the drone, I don’t like to get too close to people. If I was going to the beach to relax I would not want to be irritated with the sound of a quadcopter buzzing overhead. When they first came out it was a novelty, but now with so many people flying them I think a little etiquette is in order.

In this case I’m flying high enough above the beach that the sound of the drone is not audible. And, the drone is so small that most people would never notice. This way I can fly up and down the shore line looking for compositions without disturbing anyone.

more beach photos

One other thing I’ve tried is flying a parallel path a hundred yards out over the water. With the overhead perspective I can see marine wildlife such as dolphins, manatees and sharks. That’s not unusual for this area, just part of the normal scenery from a drone.

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This Spot at Bradenton Beach

I take so many photos from this spot at Bradenton Beach they may as well name the pier after me (no, not really).

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This Spot at Bradenton Beach
This Spot at Bradenton Beach

Piers make great leading lines and they always attract people. So if you’re a photographer and you sit near one long enough you’ll see all kinds of things to take pictures of. And, by the way, this pier and several others nearby were recently built to replace old piers destroyed in storms. I’m happy to say that after a recent hurricane the new ones had no damage at all. Yay!

This spot is popular with surfers and sometimes they use the pier to launch. When I took this, another offshore storm was creating waves, which in turn brought out the surfers and photographers including yours truly.

more images of piers

The pier is made of massive concrete blocks attached to pilings. It took about a year to construct and I remember wishing it would be finished. The day finally came and now they’re magnets for everything from surfers to seabirds, not to mention photo guys like me.

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Better Than a Good Day at the Office

To borrow a saying from golf, a bad day at the beach is still better than a good day at the office. On the weekend there was a storm in the gulf, and whenever that happens it pushes waves into the coast. That’s a queue for local surfers, and me, your intrepid photographer, to show up at the south end of Bradenton Beach for a little action.

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Better Than a Good Day at the Office
Better Than a Good Day at the Office – Bradenton Beach

The waves may not be big compared to other places like California, but big enough to get the job done. Hurricane Nate was about four hundred miles east of here, but even at that distance it managed to create a nice little swell.

This is the first time I intentionally came to the beach to photograph surfers; at other times I’m usually shooting something else and just happen to get a few shots. This time I came prepared with a long lens to get in close.

I’ve photographed other sports and each type has a different set of tricks. The first thing I learned this day was that the angle of the waves dictates the direction of the boards. Basically it meant that from my angle the surfers would have their backs to me. There are little nuances to know about photographing each sport that never occur to you until you’re there. I learned a few things for the next time so it’s all good.

more from Bradenton Beach

Lucky for me I live in a place were I’ll have plenty of opportunities. However just standing on the beach with the waves at my feet, taking pictures of anything is a lot of fun. It was way better than even a great day at the office.

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Cloud Cover

Here’s drone shot from a familiar pier that I like to hang out at. I thought we’d get a nice sunset but the sun peaked for only a few minutes and the rest of the evening was gray and cloudy. But it was not a big surprise; cloud cover is a common, especially when we have afternoon storms.

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Cloud Cover
Cloud cover over Bradenton Beach

I had the drone sitting stationary in this location for about five minutes. As soon as I saw the sun pop out I snapped a still. Then, while leaving the drone hovering in place, I reached for the camera in by bag but I was too late. By the time I pulled it out the sun was already gone. They say the best camera for the job is the one you have with you. In this case the best camera was the one hovering fifty-feet up.

favorites from the gallery

I just returned from a couple of trips and I’m happy to be back here where I can walk along the beach and take photos. Sometimes I get to the point where I’m a little complacent about living near the beach. But when I go on a trip I realize just how fortunate I am. Then I return with a newfound appreciation for the scenery where I live. But I think that’s normal; you walkaway for a spell and then realize what you have in your own backyard, even if we do get a cloudy day every now and then.

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The Pier at Redington Shores

Here’s a shot of the pier at Redington Shores Florida. I took this on one of my first drone flights and I was about a half mile away sitting in a chair. It’s very easy and probably a lazy way to take a photo, but there was still a little stress involved. I couldn’t see the drone even though I knew where it was. I positioned it and took a few snaps and then brought it back to where I was sitting. I breath a sigh of relief when the drone comes back and I can see it again.

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The Pier at Redington Shores
The Pier at Redington Shores as taken from a drone (DJI Mavic Pro)

I’ve had it now for a little over a week and I’m getting used to flying it. The stress is still there, although manageable. Even though it gives me a live view I find it a little disconcerting when it’s so far away. I have no idea what can go wrong and a little mistake can be costly. Add to that you have to be mindful of aviation, and where I live there is no shortage of that.

But with the risks comes a little reward. I am getting perspectives I could only dream of and it’s taking my photography into another dimension, figuratively and literally. Now that I’m not limited by altitude I can revisit familiar places and take completely different photos. I have a long list of locations to hit and that’s a great problem to have.

more beach images

Thanks to the automation of the DJI Mavic Pro, I’m getting efficient at it as well. I can have it in the air, take the shot, break it down and move on within 10 minutes. In some ways I prefer that to the longer flights, less can go wrong and there’s less stress to deal with. After all, this is supposed to be fun, right? Notwithstanding the learning curve, it really is.

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Skimmers on the Beach

There is a colony of skimmers on the beach not far from my home on Anna Maria Island. They have a patch of sand that they come back to each year to hatch and nurse their young. It’s normally taped off so we don’t interfere with the hatchlings. Anything that hatches and nests in the sand is quite vulnerable. The adults take turns guarding the nest. In fact the whole colony, whether they have chicks or not, pitch in on security detail. It takes a village to raise a skimmer.

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Skimmers on the Beach
Skimmers on the Beach in St Petersburg Florida

This is taken at a different location in St Petersburg. Lowering the camera close to the water helps see from the perspective of the wildlife. The small flock of skimmers was picking at the sand while some children swam behind them. With me in front I was surprised they stayed in place for as long as they did. Like so many birds in Florida they’ve grown accustomed to us.

Now is the time of year we also find turtle nests in the sand. Isn’t it odd that the turtle just lays the eggs and then takes off? It’s so unlike other creatures that stick around and nurse their young. After hatching the baby turtles make a dash to the water to avoid being eaten, and then try to avoid the same fate in the water. I don’t blame the mom for not wanting to stick around; the odds seem so slim.

other images taken at dusk

But the good news is the turtles are back on the rise after years of decline. Thanks to the watchful eyes of countless volunteers using GPS and meticulous notes to identify and monitor the nests.

Just taking a walk along the beach you would never know the amount of drama taking place in the very sand beneath your toes.

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Idyllic Childhood Memories

For me this brings back idyllic childhood memories at the beach. I’m grown up but I still relate to what these children are doing. I think we all do.

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Idyllic Childhood Memories
Idyllic childhood memories being made at Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island

I am fortunate to live near a beach like this. I can just hop in the car and be here in a few minutes. When I see that the conditions are good in the evening I’ll drive over. By conditions of course I’m referring to photographic conditions. For me that means nice clouds.

I took this at the height of spring break so there were tens of thousands at the beach. Even after living here for over a dozen years it still surprises me. At sunset everyone was lined up by the waters edge taking photos. Maybe a million pictures were taken within a five mile radius of me. It was kind of funny because I suddenly became aware that everyone was doing the exact same thing. And I thought I was the only one.

Lately I’ve been working with prime lenses. This was shot with a Sony 55mm prime at F1.8. That just means I have a narrow depth of field with which to create a sense of distance. The blurring is on purpose, the out of focus areas give the image a dreamy quality, not as much realism.

beach gallery

There were so many people that I chose to focus away from the crowds. You would never know hundreds of people were all around me as I took this. By simplifying a scene I’m better able tell a story. The story in this case is that the children are playing and in a world all their own, oblivious to everything around them. And for them this will surely become an idyllic childhood memory.

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Study in Reductionism

More than anything this image is a study in reductionism. The challenge is include increasingly large objects in an image while maintaining a balance. My idea was to include objects that vary in size from very small to very large. The foreground sand is small but appears large. The low waves are larger yet appear smaller than the foreground. The ocean is much larger and of course the sun is unimaginably large, yet they recede even more. Each element plays a complementary role.

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Study in Reductionism
Study in reductionism on Anna Maria island

This is a simple image that I almost didn’t post. I was at the beach as the sun went down and I placed the camera just above the sand. I am laughing at myself because I think this is no different than if I had been playing in the water as a child. Only now I’m grown up and my toy is a camera.

My initial idea was to capture the foam of the wash along with the setting sun. But as the idea took hold I took about two hundred of these as I experimented with different angles. Trying to pick my favorite was a chore but I managed to narrow it down.

beach gallery

Producing this image was indeed fun. Part of the fun was getting low with the camera while the waves lapped at my feet. The other was going through the process of sorting the images, studying the differences and choosing one.

In the end I learned something, and at the very least I hope you enjoyed my description of it.

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Where the Land Ends

If you drive west in San Francisco you eventually end up where the land ends. Appropriately name Lands End is a required stop when I’m here. On Monday I had a red-eye back flight home and so that afforded me the perfect opportunity to spend a couple of hours here before heading to the airport. I am so glad I did.

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Where the Land Ends
Where the Land Ends – Lands End San Francisco

Staying in the heart of the city its easy to get disconnected from nature and the beauty that surrounds this part of California. I was feeling a little bit of that when I arrived. But as soon as I parked the hum of the city fell away and I was in a different world. Standing along the shore whales could be seen at the mouth of the bay, a common occurrence.

I almost didn’t recognize the scene because last time I was here you could walk out to the rock on the left. The tide had transformed the shore. Also I don’t remember the green covering on all the rocks, perhaps that’s seasonal. In any case, it goes to show that new things appear each time you revisit a location like this, especially when mother nature is involved.

seascape images

I took a tonne of photos and when I was done the sun had set and the sky turned dark. The city was completely washed away from my mind. Next stop the airport and the flight home.

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Doing the Same Thing

When I show up here in the morning there is usually someone else doing the same thing. I cannot imagine how many photos of this bridge exists. I am one in a long line of bridge photographers. When I got my first DSLR this is the first place I came to. I’ve been here since and I’ll be back again.

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Doing the Same Thing
Doing the Same Thing – Photography of Familiar Places

Sometimes I’ll do an outing with my camera and not get any good photos. That’s subjective and long after I may change my mind. Photography is a state of mind and what you perceive as good changes over time. It also has to do with mood. We watch movies based on our mood; drama, comedy, thriller and romance, they all appeal to different moods. So it is with photography. One day I may like one photo, the next day another.

Sometimes I’ll go back and look at a shot I did years ago and have a completely different appreciation of it. I might no longer like it. Or I might see something I like but missed.

abstract images

On this morning I met a man from Newfoundland who was also taking pictures of the bridge. It was perhaps his first and only time he would be here. In that case I hope he got some images he likes.