Manatee County Archives - Page 20 of 52

September 6, 2016

Another Day Another Heron

I could post pictures of herons every day of the week, but then I’d have to rename the blog, Another Day Another Heron. This is such a common sight here in central Florida that I almost take it for granted; almost, but not quite. I used to live in Ontario Canada and I would travel into the back country. Up there the heron sightings were rare and it was a big deal when you saw one. Not so much here, they basically own the place. You see them along any stretch of water all up and down the coast. And they are territorial so you typically see them alone. I’ve noticed that other seabirds tend to give herons a wide berth.

Daily Image

The few I saw in Ontario were shy of humans, basically they would move away if you got within a hundred meters. Again, not so here, it seems they’ve grown accustom to us humans. They’ll even take an interested in us if we happen to be fishing. If you have bait or scraps they come right up to you. For me it’s quite an experience. It reminds me of feeding Flamingos in a petting zoo, they are even more amazing up close.

Florida Gallery

Herons fish in the shallow waters snatching fish with their pointy beaks. If you watch them for any length of time you’ll note they are extremely patient. They’ll remain perfectly still while a fish swims up and then they’ll strike like lightning. The prey never even saw it coming. It reminds me of martial arts, quick, precise, lethal.

September 5, 2016

Space Between

Today is a holiday. Its a day to unwind and put a little space between me and the real world.

Abstract Gallery

August 30, 2016

Riverhouse Reef and Grill

That building on the left is the Riverhouse Reef and Grill. I live near a crossroads of sorts, it’s a main thoroughfare between the two towns of Palmetto and Bradenton. As it happens the thoroughfare is really a couple of bridges over a river, and on each side of the river are marinas, parks and restaurants. All in all it’s a pretty nice place to explore and you don’t have to go too far to find a good waterfront restaurant.

Sometimes we’ll come to this place in Palmetto, other times we’ll go directly across the river to Pier 22 in Bradenton. We sit outside, why sit indoors when the weather is so good? Its rare that we go to an indoor restaurant with so many options. I’m not fanatical about eating outside but it’s rare we go out and eat indoors.

florida gallery

I took this shot at dusk from a concrete pier that used to be the main bridge between the two towns. Someone recently told me that the main bridge was destroyed in a hurricane back in the sixties and so now it’s just a fishing pier. It’s a nice place to walk at dusk and sunset, especially after eating too much at the Riverhouse Reef and Grill.

August 29, 2016August 29, 2016

Public Boat Dock

This is the public boat dock in Bradenton. Anyone with a boat can dock here and walk over to the restaurants nearby. I like coming here in the evening and rarely do I see anyone docked at night. Nevertheless I’ll sit on the steps and chill for a bit.

I took this at dusk when the waters of the river are still. During the day the wind and boats make the water choppy and so it never really looks this nice. I normally have my dog with me and we’ll both just sit here on the steps. Of course he likes coming because he gets to meet so many other dogs.

more images from bradenton

This is just one of those amazing scenes I see so much of in the summer. The clouds are normally dramatic and it contrasts well with the stillness of the water. If I didn’t have to wakeup so early I think I’d be out taking photos late into the night. Shooting scenes like this at night is a tonne of fun.

August 25, 2016

Candy Clouds

These cotton candy clouds appear almost everyday at this time of year here in Florida. The skies are clear in the morning, cotton candy at noon, thunderstorms in the afternoon and sunsets at night. It’s a pattern that repeats itself each day with minor variations. So I headed down the street one day to catch the cotton candy part of the day.

This is an example of how I can go to the same place time and time again and get different results. Some of it has to do with the clouds or time of day, but just as much is my state of mind. I see the same old thing in a new way. Sometimes what I see is more in my mind than what’s really in front of me. I take the picture and idea and work on it until I have a new picture of a familiar scene. It’s a challenge, but there are infinite ways of portraying any one thing. So I have a lot of options ahead of me.

more cloud shots

Lets face it, we live in a complicated world. We do many things to counter that. We dream about things constantly throughout the day, at least I do. I like taking a scene and turning it into a dream. It’s the same thing as a dream, only I make a picture of it. And from that I temporarily escape from the real world, if just for bit.

August 24, 2016August 24, 2016

When I Was Young

When I was young I remember playing late into the evening during the summer. The days were long and it gave my friends and I an opportunity to stay out late, it was a good feeling. It’s strange because I never really thought about it until recently. I suppose this image reminds me of that just a little. I took this at dusk and the children were squeezing every last minute of fun out of the day, like I did when I was their age.

We lose that when we grow up, but at times we can glimpse portions of it. I get that magical sense sometimes when I go on vacation. I have no responsibilities and the evenings are for having fun. Maybe we all need to play a little more. Maybe play connects us with something important we’ve lost.

abstract images from the gallery

In the meantime I keep taking pictures of people and scenes at dusk and sometimes it reminds me of long lost memories. And then I think the only way to get those back is to go on vacation. And then I never get anything done. But pretty sure I’m happy in that world.

August 23, 2016

Sky on Fire

I have this place I go to take pictures but I go there so often that in the back of my head I think I’m repeating myself. But with the sky on fire like this, how could I possibly repeat anything? I could come here every day of the year and the images would be different; which is not so much my doing as that of mother nature herself. The display of clouds changes completely from one day to the next.

As a photographer who is interested in art I think about these things a lot. I think about scenes and what they mean. I try to extract a little perspective. It’s an exercise in self discovery because to interpret something as abstract as an image of clouds requires imagination, vocabulary and some self awareness. And therein lies the heart of the matter.

images featuring the sky from the gallery

Self awareness is about as ephemeral an idea as they come. But I find just a little bit goes a long way. That’s because the ideas and thoughts about self awareness are best described in metaphors. Bingo, images make good metaphors. So if you think about it, we’re not interpreting the image, rather ourselves through the image. So, in the case the this sky, it’s really just a metaphor for something within.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

August 21, 2016

Moonset Over Three Bridges

This is from the other day when we had a full moon that set within minutes of the sunrise. For me, a full moon rising or setting is just as captivating as a sunset. But of course sunsets are easier since they happen every day. For a full moon you have to look up and remember the date, know the time when it rises and then hope there are no clouds. All these conditions combine to ensure I almost never capture it, …save for the other day. The weatherman on TV mentioned it would be good viewing which prompted me to get off the couch and get outside.

In order to make the moon look large I used a telephoto lens. I’m standing by a bridge pointing west as the moon was just about to set. Below it is three other bridges; the first is a train bridge, the second is a car bridge, and the third is the original bridge built over hundred years ago thats now a fishing pier. The telephoto lens makes them appear stacked and close together yet there is a good deal of distance between the first two bridges.

Manatee County gallery

Now that I managed to get a full moon I think I want to do it again. I just looked it up and the next full moon is on September 16th 2016. The moon will rise just after sunset (where I live in central Florida). In that case I’ll be pointing east so I have plenty of time to think about a composition. Hopefully the weather will be good. Now the wait begins.

August 17, 2016August 17, 2016

Patiently Waiting

It seems almost anywhere I go along the water there are herons close by. They are attracted to fishermen as they wait for any scraps or bait. With this heron patiently waiting I setup and shot the image using a low angle. Even though I was holding a camera between him and the fishermen he stood his ground watching me with one eye and the fishermen with the other.

Herons are patient, single minded and determined. I sat here for about thirty minutes and he was still there when I left. They are territorial so I suspect this was his pier and he wasn’t about to give it up to some guy with a camera or the fishermen.

He was watching the waters right below the pier. It’s the perfect vantage to spot fish and then swoop down for the catch.

other images with herons

Herons add atmosphere to an image, I think it’s something to do with how they carry themselves, its hard to put my finger on it. In any case, they never seem to mind having their picture taken, so for the time being I will continue to include them whenever I can.

August 16, 2016

Beyond the Shoreline

The other night I showed up at the beach at dusk. Sometimes when I’m taking photos things just happen and its good to be ready. In this case a woman was posing for photos on an adjacent pier about a hundred meters away. Her friend was taking pictures of her with his phone. It was getting dark so I set my ISO way up and took this shot.

The waters edge is a like a boundary into another world. For me, looking out over the water is like looking into the unknown. Standing at the edge of what we know and gazing beyond is an idea I sometimes think about.

If I’m honest I can find the unknown in my everyday life. Often I’m presented with challenges to overcome. When that happens its like looking into a gulf of uncertainty. I may know how to navigate but I’ve never been THERE before; there are risks. So the unknown is part of life, if not why be born in the first place. When we choose to go beyond what we know we are crossing out beyond the shoreline.

Images with Waves

So for me this image is a metaphor for gazing into the unknown of my own life. I suppose that’s why I get a little apprehensive when I look at it.