Nature Archives - Page 22 of 37

December 27, 2015December 27, 2015

Queenstown Gardens

This was taken inside Queenstown Gardens which is situated right in the middle of Queenstown. It’s kind of like Central Park for Queenstown, yet even as I write that I know it’s not a good analogy. Surrounded by mountains, Queenstown has nothing in common with New York City. Maybe a better analogy would be Stanley Park in Vancouver, yes, I think so. Only Queenstown is not as commercial as Vancouver and is many times smaller. So if Vancouver were one-tenth its size then the comparison might be truer; so much for analogies.

I came here with a group of photographers on the first day of a workshop with Trey Ratcliff. We arrived before dawn along the shores of Lake Wakatipu. We then walked and took photos for several miles, ending up here still quite early in the morning. The shadows were long in the morning sun and the clouds were puffy; all elements to consider in composition, which was one of the themes of the workshop. As compositions go, this is so-so, not one of my best. Even so, looking at this now brings back fond memories of the chilly autumn morning.

After about an hour here we loaded onto a bus and headed for a well-deserved breakfast at a hotel overlooking the lake. After almost two years, I still believe that New Zealand has some of the most scenic landscapes on the planet. I also think they make a pretty good breakfast. So if you can put those two concepts together, that amount sums up my first morning.

December 22, 2015

Afternoon at Fort DeSoto Beach

Over the weekend I spent the afternoon at Fort DeSoto beach watching the waves and taking a few pictures. This is one of my favorite spots, its remote and in the afternoon there are few people. There is also a campground near by so you can walk or ride a bike here, watch the sunset and then head back to sit around the campfire. That’s what this family did as it started to get dark.

Just off the coast is Egmont Key which is a deserted island, a little like the island in Lost.

Around this time of the day you might see a cruise ship sail past this point on its way out of Tampa Bay towards the Gulf of Mexico. Winter it’s a busy time for cruises so we tend to see a lot of ships coming and going. Something about those gigantic ships is mesmerizing to watch, especially in the evenings when they are all lit up, like moving cities. If you get up early, you see them going in the opposite direction as they come into port.

Only after I moved to the Tampa area did I learn about cruises. A few years back I took my first cruise out of here and sailed right past this spot. I had so much fun I didn’t want it to end. Nevertheless, I got up early on the last morning to see all the familiar landmarks I’d only ever seen from shore.

December 18, 2015

Mist on Wick Beach

Wickaninnish Beach, BC

This is a shot of the mist on Wick beach in British Columbia. Actually the name of this place is Wickaninnish, but folks around here just call it Wick. In any case, this is at the southern end of a very long beach that stretches for miles up the coast. There is a WWII memorial here as well as a lodge with a restaurant that has a few local dishes on the menu. It was a chilly day so we asked for comfort food and we got a local favorite. I can’t begin to remember the name of it but it seemed to have fish and rice all mixed in and it really hit the spot. This area is known for surfing, fishing whale watching. Or, if you’re like me, just long walks on a long beach followed by comfort food.

December 15, 2015December 15, 2015

Rainbow on the Coast

I got up early one summer morning and caught this rainbow along the gulf coast as I walked the trails at DeSoto National Memorial in Bradenton. In summer we have thunder clouds that change from one minute to the next. They combine the energy of the warm air and gulf waters to become powerful and, if I might say, rambunctious. By that I mean loud, dramatic and fun to watch, especially from a photography perspective. On this morning I also caught a rainbow as the clouds were breaking apart. This is an area were thunderstorms and rainbows are common as the waters of the Manatee River meet the Gulf of Mexico. The storms like to follow the path of the river and I’ve taken a lot of photos rainbows around here. In real life they are beautiful to look at yet don’t always translate into a good picture. One morning I watched as a double rainbow formed over the river in the soft light of morning. Many people were stopping to look at comment, it was amazing to witness. I took a bunch of photos yet when I got home and looked at them they didn’t look all that special. I think that in most cases, rainbows are meant to be enjoyed in the moment and trying to capture their beauty can be as elusive as the pot of gold at the end.

December 13, 2015

Remarkable Mountains

This is the Remarkable Mountains as viewed from Kelvin Heights above Queenstown New Zealand. Kelvin Heights is the name I get when I Google it, however the locals call it Deer Park Heights. There is some kind of family dispute over this land, maybe that has something to do with the names, but I digress. I posted this image about a year and a half ago without the clouds but I thought I’d update the image because I prefer clouds in the sky. That morning the sky was rather dull, it was just after sunrise and it had snowed the day before. So, as I do with many of my images, I made it look a little different, the way I wished it had looked. Its like doodling with an image to see what works. For me this is better than the original. At the time I was in New Zealand on a workshop with Trey Ratcliff and I was just beginning to learn how to work with new tools for this kind of thing. I made many friends there as we all practiced composition and post processing with beautiful landscapes like this from all around Queenstown. Since then I’ve learned quite a lot and have developed a preference for a more imaginative style that at times is not at all realistic. If you’ve followed my work you know what I mean. I’m more into creating images from my minds eye, using photography as a tool. So, having gone back to this image I think I like it better than the first version which was more true to life. You may not agree, but that’s okay, on any given day I might just change my mind and agree with you.

December 11, 2015

Mount Edith Cavell Before Sunset

This is the view of Mount Edith Cavell from Jasper Park Lodge that I took one summer evening before sunset. I think it’s pretty amazing how long the days are in the summer up here. Its kind of hard to fathom, especially now that I’m writing this in winter when it gets dark many hours earlier. In the evening the angle of the sun is low enough to cast a soft light on everything. I understand that Iceland can be like that for months, I guess that’s next on my list. In any case, Mount Edith Cavell is one of the more iconic landmarks of the Canadian Rockies and having hiked up along side of it, I can say it is indeed massive, even when viewed from twenty kilometers away. A couple of days ago I wrote about the age of the trees in British Columbia. Well, these mountains are millions of years old. That really impresses me because just like the size of these mountains, their age is something I can never really wrap my mind around.

December 8, 2015December 10, 2015

Cathedral Grove: A Quiet Path

Cathedral Grove Path — Quiet Path Through Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada Obtain a fine art print

Last year I stopped here at Cathedral Grove just outside of Nanaimo British Columbia. These are towering Douglas Firs, the oldest at about eight hundred years old though most are around three hundred years. Even with visitors, the lush vegetation dampens the sounds to provide a quite walk through the old forest. There are a lot of must see places on Vancouver Island, this is at the top of the list. I was here in summer when it was hot, even so the cover the canopy creates its own micro-climate and the whole place is about ten dregs cooler. The grove is reached by a highway leading over the mountains to the pacific coast. I was on my way there to Ucluelet, but even so when I came back I stopped here again. I took a ton of pictures both times.

November 19, 2015November 20, 2015

Emerson Point Vultures

I was driving along the road into a nature preserve when I came upon these vultures perched upon a dead oak. It struck me as such an odd sight, almost scary, and I had to stop and take a photo. While there another gentlemen came along and stopped next to me to take a look. Apparently he watches these carrions closely and said that something wasn’t right because normally they are further up the road inside the preserve. He thought perhaps someone was lighting fireworks and caused the flock to move here. Anyway, the only thing scary about this photo is that presumably these poor birds were a bit unsettled and scared themselves. Seems things are always what they seem.

November 11, 2015

Walk on a Warm Beach

We are having a rather warm fall season here in Florida. I work in an air-conditioned room and so even I look forward to getting outside just to warm up. There are some beaches where you can just walk along at sunset with a drink in your had and the warm water at your feet. This one is at Lido beach which is just now gearing up for the winter season. As soon as American Thanksgiving is over waves of northerners will migrate south and end up doing something like this each evening. Now if I could just get out of my office, I might just join them.

November 6, 2015

Nokomis Beach Bridge

In the West coast of Florida most of the beaches are on keys which are long barrier islands up and down the coast. The main reason they don’t get washed away in storms is that usually there are dunes with vegetation to prevent erosion. So we have these bridges over the dunes that create a pretty nice entrance to the sea. As leading lines go, these are one of my favorite because they lead to where we all want to be, on the beach and in the sun. Speaking of which, the weekend is about to begin.