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November 3, 2017November 3, 2017

Oasis in Plain Sight

One of the things I like most about Sarasota is their public spaces. This is a good example of that, an oasis in plain sight.

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I took this in the middle of summer when we get amazing clouds. I don’t normally take pictures of city parks but this one is situated right on the inter-coastal waterway so I couldn’t resist.

Every time I drive by this park seems empty. I’m not sure if people just aren’t aware of it or what, but it’s the perfect spot. Just stop the car, walk over to the water and sit on a bench. As far as parks go this is one of the prettiest in the area.

more Sarasota photos

This is an HDR image; I took three photos with different exposures and combined them in AuroraHDR. It makes it possible the show the whole range of light when there are extreme ranges like this. It’s hard to take an image like this any other way.

October 30, 2017

Calm Before the Storm

I took this a couple years back on Sanibel Causeway, which connects the mainland to the small island of Sanibel. We have a lot of causeways and bridges in Florida because there are so many islands. When I first moved to Florida the unbelievable number of bridges was one of my first impressions.

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Wherever there is a causeway you’ll find people standing at the waters edge with a fishing poll. In many ways this is a typical scene when driving around either coast.

The setting sun illuminated a large column behind the fisherman. I walked around and took a bunch of photos but within thirty minutes it had moved our way and we were covered in dark clouds. As I jumped in the car it started to rain and within a few minutes there was thunder, lighting and zero visibility. That’s a fairly common occurrence during the hot months.

more cloudscapes

This image continues a theme of simplification. I removed a lot of distractions to create an impression of the scene from that afternoon. In effect, this is the calm before the storm.

October 23, 2017October 23, 2017

Sunrise from the Fort Hammer Bridge

This is a sunrise from the Fort Hammer Bridge in the town of Parrish, Florida. The western part of the county is all beaches along the Gulf of Mexico, but the eastern part is all farmland and natural surroundings. I took this while standing on the new bridge that opened just last week.

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If you look carefully you can see smoke rising from a fire in the horizon. It’s brush being cleared for another development. The inland communities of Florida are growing and new home construction is continuing out where only farms existed. It makes you wonder where all the farms will be in the future.

This view is of the preserve below the bridge that is protected and, a sanctuary for wildlife and migrating birds. It’s also a place to kayak and row, the local rowing club is just behind my vantage point.

more from my county

I came here because the bridge is new and I’ve waited a long time to take this picture. Now that construction is complete I am finally able to get this eastern view from the Fort Hammer Bridge.

October 17, 2017

What I Saw in My Mind

Walking to the train one morning in Vancouver I noticed this cruise ship at dock. It arrived a few hours earlier and was preparing for another voyage to Alaska. A common site in the summer but nonetheless it looked awesome in the morning light so I took a few photos; this is what I saw in my mind. Let me explain…

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What I Saw in My Mind – From Vancouver BC

I spent a lot of time on this photo to make it look like what you see here. The original photo didn’t look so pretty. It had a lot of distractions, including other boats and a parking lot in the lower right. So I manipulated it to make it look like what I thought I saw. What we perceive is usually different than what we see. In other words, we perceive what we want to see and have a tendency to screen the rest; so this image is now closer to what I thought I saw.

At the time I only noticed the boat, it stood out because it wasn’t there the day before. I also noticed the soft light of the morning sun reflecting on the side. I thought to myself that it was an awesome scene, but when I looked at the image later there were other things I didn’t remember seeing, like the parking lot for instance. Rather than get disappointed and throw it away, it became a challenge for me to see if I could replicate my initial impression.

more images from Vancouver

To my way of thinking the practice of photography is an expression of art. If I just want to record an event I snap a photo with my phone. But “photography” can be more than that. That doesn’t mean it should always be manipulated, but it should tell a story. In this case I did indeed manipulate it so that I could convey the story what I perceived in my mind on that summer morning in Vancouver.

October 10, 2017October 10, 2017

Panorama of Anna Maria

This is a panorama of Anna Maria Island taken with a drone the other day. To get this I took seventeen images and re-combined them in post-production. It’s not as difficult as it sounds but the results can be stunning. This is a perspective I’ve never seen; I come here all the time but like everyone else I see it from the ground.

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I like to think that I’m not afraid of heights, but when I fly the drone and look at the live view on my iPhone I get a little queasy. It’s a form of virtual reality, almost as if I’m in two places at once, simultaneously on the ground and in the air. From the air I look straight down and think to myself, it’s a long way down.

Phobias aside, the island is very low-key as compared to other places in Florida, it reminds me of Hawaii. The beaches are almost always filled, yet there are no flashy or tall buildings, just relaxed places to hang out and chill. I recall that in certain parts of Hawaii the building codes don’t allow for anything taller than a palm tree, I think it’s the same idea here.

more from anna maria island

The only way you’ll ever see this view for yourself is if you take a parasailing ride up and down the beach; or, if you happen to have a drone and can virtually fly with your feet still on the ground. In either case, it’s a long way down.

October 6, 2017

Dunes at Lido Beach

Here is a simple image I took from the dunes at Lido Beach. I was part of a last minute rush by locals and tourists alike to get to the beach and watch the sunset. There was no convenient parking so I double-parked and walked over to the dunes to take this. Not really a smart idea but it worked; at least this time.

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Dunea at Lido Beach — Dunes at Lido Beach in Sarasota

It looks like I was on the dunes but I was on a path; it’s not good to walk on the dunes because it wrecks the plants. The plants preserve the dunes, which in turn preserve the islands during a storm. The island in this case is Ledo Key, which is one of my favorite places in Sarasota because I usually get nice pictures whenever I come here.

more beach images

Anyway, when I see these sunsets I go into full photography mode. What should be a serene experience is a little more stressful. I like to think it’s the good kind of stress, creative stress. That’s usually followed by the satisfaction of having captured a good sunset. Somehow I manage to survive these frequent episodes; at least I did this time.

September 21, 2017

This is Salerno

This is Salerno where I recently spent the day walking around in the rain. I was on a cruise of Italy and this was our fourth stop. Normally we booked tours of the port cities but this day I just walked around taking pictures. However it rained hard so there where periods where I was huddled in an entryway waiting for a break.

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During the downpours, vendors would appear out of nowhere with an armful of umbrellas. Out of necessity I bought one for five euros, which was way too much, but I was in no position to complain. I saw the same ones later in a shop for less. To add insult to injury, I lost it on a bus later in the day and ended up having to buy another one for the same price.

Obviously I’m not a great shopper and normally I don’t shop at all on trips. But, I had it in my mind that I wanted to buy a pair of leather shoes. My first thought was to buy them in Spain but I didn’t find anything I liked. Mind you, I didn’t look very hard. While waiting out one of the downpours it happened I was standing in front of a shoe store. So I went in and found a pair I liked on sale for twenty euros. The shoes said they were made in Italy with Italian leather so I felt happy about it. At the end of the day I ended up with one pair of shoes and one umbrella for thirty euro. For a reluctant shopper like myself it seemed I did okay on average. It took two days for the shoes I brought from home to dry out, so it was good that I had an extra pair.

more cityscape images

As we pulled out of port the rain stopped and the clouds parted. I looked back at Salerno and took this image. Maybe the umbrella merchants moved on or switched to some other product. However I got what I wanted and, more importantly, got a bunch of photos. Most of them are just people walking through the rain while I waited under an entryway. I think this one looking back from the ship at the end of the day is a little more interesting. Anyway, that’s the story of my short visit to Salerno on a rainy day.

September 19, 2017

Life Close to Home

Here is section of the town where I live taken with a drone. This is Palmetto along the north bank of the Manatee River as it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Having just spent a few weeks away I’m happy to be getting back to the routines of life close to home. One of those routines is getting out to take images of the sunset like this.

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About a week ago Hurricane Irma passed by and this river nearly flooded. We were fortunate it did not and that is something everyone here is thankful for. The shared experience of having come so close has brought the community together. As the tide subsided and the river receded, there was a collective sigh of relief, almost festive; yet keenly aware that it could have gone either way. There is also the undercurrent of posttraumatic stress in the wake of the adrenaline-fueled week.

Life is returning to normal; power restored, schools reopened, shelves restocked. Most of us are left with simple assessments, cleanup and repairs. But that’s nothing compared to those further south. That we did not experience the same tragedy is pure chance, leaving us humbled and taking nothing for granted.

more from florida

I’m philosophical, if not a little superstitious about all this. The way I figure it; we have Mother Nature to thank for calm idyllic scenes like this. As much as we love what she has to offer, we try to remain mindful that moods change and sometimes tempers flare. And in those rare cases, we are at her mercy.

September 15, 2017

Another View of Burnaby

This is another view of Burnaby BC that I took from about ten miles away in downtown Vancouver. I think they refer to it as a bedroom community but that sounds strange; Burnaby is anything but sleepy. There is a lot of construction going on and it seems every time I come back the skyline has changed.

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Speaking of skylines, what looks like a hill to the right of the buildings is Central Park, something I posted about recently. It’s not really a hill, what you see is the contour of the tall cedars against the skyline.

This type of view is what I call my rule of tenths. In photography there is a “rule of thirds” which recommends segmenting the composition into thirds. I use that a lot but sometimes I feel that the sky deserves more than just a third, in cases like this I give it about nine-tenths.

more images from canada

The reason I do that is my own sense of perspective. I have a habit of drawing back from a subject, be it in photography or life, and trying to see things in relation to how it fits in. With something as big and complex as a city, it helps to get a little distance. At least that’s my theory; it works for me, …usually.

September 14, 2017

Cafeteria Built on a Rock

While in Spain we were told by several people that we should visit the Abbey of Montserrat about an hour north of Barcelona. It’s built in an impossible location on a steep mountainside and has stunning views of the region. It’s a great place to take photos and this is one I took of the cafeteria built on a rock.

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Cafeteria Built on a Rock at the Abbey of Montserrat

To drive here you take a series of steep switchbacks up the mountain. But if you don’t like hairpin turns over cliffs, you can also take a train or gondola from the valley floor. In that respect it reminds me of locations in Switzerland or Germany. However the red earth and unusual rock formations also remind me of the southwestern United States. Perhaps it’s a combination of both, yet entirely unique.

This is a popular place because there were a lot of people here when we arrived. And there is a lot more to see than just a cafeteria, but this grabbed my attention when I first arrived. It’s no ordinary cafeteria, at least not the kind that comes to mind when I think of my old high school. If you did nothing but drive up here and buy lunch, it would be well worth the trip as you gaze out at the valley and Barcelona in the distance.

more European photos

My only regret is that I didn’t know about this place sooner. I will come back and explore it more thoroughly on my next visit, especially at night. And there is way more to see than just the cafeteria, so plan a day of it the next time you’re in the area; I know I will.