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Sunrise over the Manatee River

I took this sunrise over the Manatee River with a drone one morning. For years I wanted to take a helicopter so I could get a photo with this perspective, but now I just use the DJI. It’s a lot cheaper and I don’t have to hang out the door to get a shot.

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Sunrise over the Manatee River
Sunrise over the Manatee River as viewed from a small DJI MavicPro drone camera

The town of Bradenton is on the right and my home town of Palmetto is on the left. The traffic flows into Bradenton over the second bridge in the morning and the other way at night. The first bridge is the rail bridge to the Tropicana plant. In the old days the trains carried people, now it only carries oranges to the plant and juice in the other direction. If you buy a container of orange juice, chances are it crossed that bridge.

other images of this river

I was standing on a pier just off camera to the right. The drone was so high and far away from me I couldn’t actually see it with my eyes. But I could tell where it was through the live feed it was sending back. I always get a little nervous when it’s so far away, but nothing happened and I got the image I’ve been waiting so long for.

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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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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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Panorama of Anna Maria
Panorama of Anna Maria Island from the air

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.

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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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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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Life Close to Home
Life Close to Home in Palmetto Florida

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.

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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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Slightly Different Perspective

Continuing with the theme yesterday of repetition and practice, this is pier I have taken many times. It’s a slightly different perspective simply because each time I come here I look for different compositions, or maybe similar compositions but in different light and conditions. So even though the location is the same, the image is new.

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Slightly Different Perspective
Slightly different perspective of the same scene at Bradenton Beach

It’s a little like taking pictures of clouds, no two will ever be the same. I go back to the same places for two reasons; one, I like the scenery, and two, I’m practicing the art of capturing perspectives. The scene may be similar but the details are different.

In some respects photography is no different then other pursuits in that it takes repetition and practice, and for the most part that is done in our own backyard. That is how we hone our craft so that when we do travel we’ll have perfected not only the mechanical aspects but also the subtle and infinite variations that go into composition. Not everyone will notice but some will, you being chief among them.

more images of piers

I do photography to satisfy my own longings and passion. So by practicing over and over at home not only am I getting better, I’m enjoying something I like to do. To be sure, I’m not always satisfied with the outcome, but the effort is never lost. Even failed efforts lead to new understandings and help avoid mistakes. We learn by doing and by doing something we love, we are simply adding to a big circle of happiness in our lives. And for me, that’s as good as money in the bank.

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Study of Light and Impressions

This is a study of light and impressions from familiar scene; it’s a public boat dock along the river. Folks sometimes dock their boats here and walk over to the nearby restaurants. In reality it’s not used all that much. More often people come here to sit and watch the water. It’s a regular stop for me when I’m out walking with my dog Mr. Wiggles.

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Study of Light and Impressions
Study of Light and Impressions

I’ve taken a lot of pictures of this location at various times of the day and night and from different angles. So I guess you could say this is a study of how the scene changes each time. It’s also how I practice, by shooting the same subject slightly differently and then working with it in post. In this case I noticed the lights just as dawn was breaking from the east. It was a quick shot that I hadn’t preplanned.

But later I’ve spent hours working on this. As you know, images out of the camera do not always reflect the mood or scene as we remember it. Our images seem to come out flat and a little boring. So I’ve done a lot of things in an attempt to being back that feeling. I’ve enhanced the lights from the lampposts and I’ve saturated the colors to accentuate the reflections on the water.

More images from Riverwalk in Bradenton

So does it work? It’s all completely subjective; I’ve created something partially resembling what I saw yet something completely different. In the end it is what it is, a study of light and impressions from a familiar scene.

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Palmetto and Bradenton Panorama

Now that I’m getting a little better at flying the drone I’m starting to make panoramas. It’s basically the same process that I use on the ground, which is to shoot vertical images and stitch them together. One of the options on the drone is to shoot in portrait mode. So once I’m in position I switch the drone camera into portrait mode and take several shots side-by-side.

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Palmetto and Bradenton Panorama
Palmetto and Bradenton panorama taken with a DJI Mavic Pro

This is one such panorama over the neighboring towns of Palmetto and Bradenton. I live in Palmetto on the right and Bradenton is just across the river on the left. In this you can see a couple of bridges that cross the Manatee River, which is almost a mile wide at this point.

This image has more resolution than a single shot from the Mavic because it’s several shots combined. The camera on the DJI Mavic is fairly small compared to that of my main Sony camera. It’s roughly equivalent in resolution to some of the better smartphones. That’s not bad but I still prefer a higher resolution for landscape images. So for now my best option is to make panoramas. However in the future I expect manufacturers like DJI will give us better sensors for the drone cameras.

more panoramas

That’s okay because I’m still in a learning phase and I really like how I can use this in photography. I’m a little late to the game because these things have been out for a number of years. But having waited I now have the advantage of all the safeguards that are built in. Someone like me is less likely to lose my investment due to pilot error. And as Martha Stewart would say, “that’s a good thing”.

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A Recent Trip to the Beach

I took this photo on a recent trip to the beach. It was right after a tropical storm and the waves were a little larger than normal. Mind you, they are small compared to other places but still fun to watch.

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A Recent Trip to the Beach
A Recent Trip to the Beach on Anna Maria Island

I know an emergency responder who works at the beach and there is no shortage of stories about people miscalculating the waves. Even though they look small there are rip currents just like everywhere else. Normally the waves are so small it looks like you could swim way out, but apparently that’s not a great idea.

I cannot get enough of the beach. When I visit places away from bodies of water it seems something is missing. Of course that’s not true, it’s just a perspective I’ve acquired by living so close. Yet there is something in our psyches that’s attracted to bodies of water and we feel that with images like this. For some reason we like pictures that include water. It could also just be our primal need for it.

more beach images from the gallery

There is something rejuvenating about oceans, lakes and rivers. Why else would we spend our money traveling to these areas for vacation? We have holidays at a cottage on a lake, go for cruises on a boat, or just hang out at the beach. I am writing this on a Friday, all of those things sound especially good to me right about now.