Manatee County Archives - Page 18 of 52

December 5, 2016

Dawn on the Bridge Street Pier

Here is another image taken at dawn on the Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach. To get this I arrived before dawn on a Sunday morning. Each time I do that I see the staff still cleaning up at the local tavern, but then I’m here only three hours after closing. The coffee shop on the pier is already open with a few early birds already sitting at the counter.   The water is always calm and the sky starts turning deep pastel colors. In my humble opinion it’s the best time to be here, assuming you are a morning person of course.

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On this last Saturday night I was just a few hundred meters away taking pictures of the gulf in the other direction. This is on Anna Maria Island which is a long narrow island. As I drove past the center of the town there were a lot of people at the outdoor restaurants. It seemed that live music was playing on each corner.   I’m fortunate to live here, especially during winter. Its human nature to forget and take it all for granted. When I see folks that have travelled here I am reminded how lucky I am.

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Even so I travel to take photos of other places. But when I’m home I have so many things to take pictures in my own backyard. I’m always taking pictures of the water here. The reflections, the waves, the colors, all of it combined .

I’m not really going anywhere with all this.

November 27, 2016

Saturday Evening at the Beach

This is Saturday Evening at the Beach. After an early dinner I noticed the clouds looking good for a sunset so I headed towards the ocean. I’m glad I did because the display was well worth the effort. At times like this everyone is lined up along the shore with their smart phones snapping away, I arrived just in time and this was the first shot out of my camera. Talk about cutting it close.

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I stress myself out sometimes when chasing sunsets. Getting in the right place at the right time can be easier said than done. That’s mostly because I have to drive here. I suppose it would be easier if I lived right on the beach. (Note to self).

When the sun gets low on the horizon there are only about three minutes to get a shot. Its better to get here a half hour ahead of time but I’m rarely that organized.

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This time of year we start to getting tourist and winter residents so the traffic also plays into the equation. Even though I know all these things I still manage to show up at the last possible moment.

I suppose my tombstone will read, …”He arrived at the last possible moment, better late than never”.

November 24, 2016

Wide Angle View

This is a wide angle view of the Gulf of Mexico I took from Emerson Point in Florida. I made this with the new Laowa 12mm f/2.8 lens that was created through the help of a Kickstarter. The claim to fame on this lens is that there is no distortion. That’s something hard to do but someone figured it out and this is the result. Generally we use software to remove the distortion of a wide lens, but in this case it’s not necessary. Anyway, it’s kinda cool in a geeky kind of way and I’ll be carrying the lens with me in the next little while.

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Sometimes I’ll drive to this spot if I think there’ll nice sunset. It’s one of my goto spots for sunsets since it’s so close to home. Normally there are a handful of other peopler her with cameras looking to snap some nice pics.

I don’t mind repeating myself because mother nature never does. So no matter how many times I come to the same spot, it will always be different.

After the sun sets the park ranger usually comes along to shoo everyone out of the park. It closes right after sunset and if you linger too long they will let you know. I used to get annoyed by that but I have since come to realize that the park is the domain of the wildlife. As soon as it gets dark the road fills with all manner of creatures coming out for the evening. So it makes sense that we should give them their space not to mention it can be dangerous if cars are on the roads at the same time.

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So basically I come, I shoot, I depart. A very quick excursion close to home and without a whole lot of effort.

November 15, 2016

The Heron Dreams

As the waves lap upon the shore and the stars circle the night sky, the Heron dreams. In dreams we inhabit the same landscape, perhaps.

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We miss so much when we don’t acknowledge nature. I have recently come to believe that the elemental spirits of nature, those we call animals, are so much more connected with the truth of life than we will ever know.

I am astonished at how much these beings revere us. We take it for granted, we always have. But if we stop and think, better yet, if we connect with them, we may learn something about them. We may even learn something about ourselves.

I am coming to realize that animals have so much to teach us. I think that in our current society we gloss over this to our own detriment. Perhaps it is just a temporary condition and in years to come we will correct this.

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Perhaps one way to correct this is to make an attempt to respect and acknowledge the animals around us. They are all around, shouldn’t we take notice? When you look into the eyes of an animal you will see a window to a soul or spirit that is just as viable a life as our own. More often than not see love looking back.

I think that by connecting with our animal friends we will unlock something in ourselves. All we have to do is notice. This is my simple tribute to the elemental life all around us.

November 5, 2016

Mid Summer Night

I took this a couple of months ago on a mid summer night. I was hanging out by the water watching the clouds roll in. Yeah right, like I have time to do that. Lets just I was standing here and good grief Miss Molly, all hell started to break loose. The clouds got low and thick, menace was in the air, and then suddenly, crack, boom, flash.

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Maybe my dramatic writing skills are a little to be desired. I’ll keep my day job, but if you know any comic book publishers that need a ghost writer let me know. I’m pretty sure I could do that. I’m there for you baby.

Where was I? Oh yeah, down by the river watching the clouds roll in. So, if I was of sound mind and judgement I wouldn’t even be here. It’s not safe. You know that saying, it’s about as likely as being struck by lightning. It doesn’t apply to Florida. Chances are, if you’re STUPID, or just an ambitious photographer, you’ll get it. So, at times like this it’s best not to be stupid, or a photographer. Unless you don’t care.

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I don’t really care about all that, I live for the perfect shot, the moment. Ha ha ha. Okay, I hear the nurses, they’re coming to give me my meds. I have to go.

October 31, 2016October 31, 2016

Morning Sunburst

A morning sunburst of light is projected from behind the clouds. This was from behind our house in Palmetto Florida. I noticed these rays for several days in a row on account of the type of clouds, this time I was within reach of the camera. In fact I took this though an upper window, right through a glass pane. Normally that’s not optimal but this time it worked out.

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How can you not be happy when you see this? Its like a wake-up call from the sun itself, “time to get out of bed!”.

I don’t pull out my camera that often at home but this time I couldn’t resist. We get equally awesome scenes in the evening in the other way, but there are just too many distractions with houses and such.

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For some reason this reminds me of a corny TV commercial of a guy dressed in a sun suit. He’s a hopelessly optimistic and talking about breakfast, I think it’s an ad for Jimmy Dean breakfast food. In any case he ends up making everyone feel better.

Back to the real world. Now that we are all awake its time get up and get breakfast. I’m just say’in.

October 29, 2016

Stuff of Dreams

The sunrises and sunsets in the last week have been the stuff of dreams. That’s because we are transitioning between seasons and thunderclouds are being replaced with wispy Stratus. This has had me a little stressed, as I’ve been too busy to get out, or more accurately, I’ve had really bad timing. By the time I notice its too late, or at least I think it is. All that aside, on this morning I grabbed my bag, still in my workout clothes and headed for the river. I stood out on this pier for a four-minute exposure of the sunrise over Bradenton.

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What I find so fascinating is that the exposure shows the movement of the clouds which seem to travel in different directions depending on their altitude. I suppose a pilot or someone more acquainted with weather knows of the phenomena, but I’m a simple man and I get amazed by such things.

It was rush hour and the bridge was packed with traffic, but of course it doesn’t show up on account of the length of the exposure.

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So anyway, I managed to reduce a little stress by getting here on this morning, but there are many more times I have missed. I should be happy when I see a beautiful scene, but if I don’t have my camera I end up wishing I did. I think that’s a hazard of the occupation, as a photographer it’s hard to turn off the need to capture and just enjoy the scene, unless of course I’m taking pictures. But I’m working on it and one day I’ll be happy either way, with or without my camera.

October 14, 2016

Light Reflecting off the Bridge

I stood below and captured the light reflecting off the bridge one evening. This is a long exposure image of about two minutes. The bridge is a draw bridge and the light of the signal casts the green glow onto the water. For me this is just another in a series of long exposure studies I’m doing.

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There was some type of plants in the foreground water that I was trying to keep out of the image. But later I liked how it adds texture to the reflection of light, a little foreground interest in an abstract kind of way.

To take these long exposures I set the camera up on a tripod, set the time on my Apple Watch, and then click the shutter. Then it’s just a matter of waiting two or three minutes. In fact its pretty boring, I might check my e-mail, look at the news or just stand there walking in circles. Finally when its time I close the shutter, take a look, decide if I need to make any adjustments and then do it all over again. It can go on like this for twenty or thirty minutes in a single location. It really does take a bit of patience.

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I’m lucky to be here, outside experiencing sites and sounds that most people don’t notice. That’s true about landscape photography in general. If you do it often you will be fortunate to experience natural beauty first hand. So, whether or not I end up with any photos I like, the experience is a good one and I come home with something gained. I think that’s pretty good.

October 11, 2016

Next to the Bridge Street Pier

These are moored next to the Bridge Street Pier in the town of Bradenton Beach. Normally I come here to take pictures at the beach but there is another side of town that’s not as well known. It’s on a barrier island so to the west is the gulf and east is the inter-coastal waterway. It’s on the east side that you can watch the sunrise while enjoying a cup of coffee on the town pier. The Bridge Street Pier has a restaurant thats open early seven days a week for breakfast and is one of those gems most people miss.

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Anyway, there are a lot of boats moored here and just across the water is the town of Cortez. Cortez is one of the last remaining commercial fishing villages on the East coast. You can watch the fishing boats as they head for the draw bridges that surround this spot. Depending on which way they go there could be one or two drawbridges too pass.

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Anyway, like many places along the coast, people are famous for getting up to watch the sunrise, (or sunset for that matter). I suppose some do both. This spot is next to a little trailer park with pastel colored mobile homes and flower boxes out front. They are quaint and I thought to myself they are in the perfect location. Out one window you can see the sunrise and out the other the sunset. I could see living that life one day. But until then I’ll just grab a coffee at the pier when I want to see a sunrise.

October 10, 2016October 10, 2016

Offshore Overnight Thunderstorms

Sometimes the weatherman will say we’re going to have offshore overnight thunderstorms. Well, perhaps this is what that looks like. I took this from Bradenton Beach early one morning before sunrise. Despite the hour it was an awesome time to be here. This is a busy beach by day but I guarantee you there was nobody here before six on a Sunday morning. It’s not always easy dragging myself here at this hour, but being the only person here for miles in each direction is pretty cool.

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This is a three minute long exposure. My thought was that the waves would be smooth with such a long exposure. But as a result of the lighting flash the waves were exposed allowing their texture to come through. It was as though the lightning was a large flash unit.

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In three minutes the stars begin to make an arc. The more I look at this the more I know I need to spend a night out here getting start trail images. Maybe I’ll plan that for next weekend. If I try it during the week I’ll end up falling asleep at my desk. Then I’d be dreaming about being at the beach and not working. Come to think about it maybe that’s not such a bad idea after all.