Night Photography Archives - Page 18 of 36

May 26, 2016

Morning Train

The morning train crosses the bridge to Bradenton on it’s way to the orange juice plant. I stood here as it blew its horn which can be heard for miles away. When I’m home I hear the horn at night and for me it’s just part of the daily sounds that make up the fabric of life in this small town. Each time I hear it I know the train is crossing the river.

When I travel to another part of the country or up to Canada and see Tropicana orange juice in a carton, I know it crossed this bridge as it left the plant. It’s a subtle feeling of familiarity when I’m far from home.

Anyway, I love traveling by train, there couldn’t be a more relaxing way to travel. Unlike a plane you can easily get up and walk around. There’s none of the nonsense about landing and takeoff and you can pretty much do as you please.

More images of urban exploration from the gallery

Anyway, I don’t see many passenger trains in my part of Florida. Even so they were largely responsible for the population growth in the last century. Now the trains here mostly serve industry. For instance the Ringling circus train leaves from just the other side of the river. That has a long history, and I know someone who works on that train, but I digress; another story for another day perhaps.

May 19, 2016

City Island

This is from a place known as City Island here in Sarasota. It’s not a city, but if you turn the other way it has a great view of the city. This is where the Mote Marine Laboratory is located. It’s a world class not-for-profit marine research facility, they also have an aquarium and ocean mammal rescue and rehabilitation facility. It’s a great place to visit if you’re in the area.

However I was here early one morning to get photos of the city at sunrise and then decided to turn my camera in the other direction. This is one of two herons that were there that morning as I walked about the park. They didn’t seem to mind that I was there, probably because it was prime fishing time and couldn’t be bothered with the human and his tripod, can’t say that I blame them.

More images of Sarasota County from the Gallery

I’ve taken pictures of this tree before, it’s distinctive and just begs to be photographed. The problem is there are a lot of distractions if you point the other way towards the city; buildings, boats and bushes. So on this day I took a different approach and aimed away from the city towards City Island. Come to think of it that should be a riddle: How do you turn your back on the city and face the city at the same time? Stand on City Island in Sarasota.

May 18, 2016

Letting Time Pass

Here is a shot of The Rod and Reel, a local favorite on Anna Maria Island. I took this after dusk on a Friday night. It was the tail end of dusk so the clouds had a hint of the color.

Here you can get a brew or have a meal while you sit on the pier surrounded by the tropical waters of the Gulf. For a few dollars you can get some bait and rent a pole. The nice thing about that is you won’t need a fishing license so it’s usually the first place I take out-of-state guests that want to fish. I could think of worse places to sit for a few hours.

If you watch the waters you’ll see dolphins and manatees swimming by. People come here at night to fish for shark, it’s not uncommon. Not something I might not do, but hey, I could if I wanted to.

More night photography from the gallery

This is a thirteen-second exposure and so it causes the water to appear smooth. That’s an effect I like a lot, I could do long exposures all the time and never get tired of it. A little like time surfing, whatever that means. I think of it as taking a stretch of time and compressing it. When we do that to water it creates a wave. So here I’m letting some time pass and then compressing it to make this image. Maybe a little bit shaky as a metaphor, but I’m on Anna Maria Island so who cares.

May 17, 2016May 18, 2016

Best Intentions

Earlier this afternoon I got stuck in a thunderstorm, it was the first of many to come this season. I stood under a shelter for about twenty minutes while I waited for it to pass. It finally did and I walked home in a light drizzle and went about my business. In the evening I had it in my mind to see if the clouds would part a little at dusk so I drove to this spot on the opposite side of the river and waited.

This is a three shot panorama of the DeSoto Bridge in Bradenton just a few minutes after sunset. I was glad I followed my hunch.

In the center is one of three bridges, the other two are just behind it. One of the bridges is a railway and while I was here a train crossed the river. The sound of it’s horn and bulk as it lumbered along was the predominant sound on this otherwise peaceful setting.

In fact I heard the train approaching as I drove over here across the DeSoto bridge. I debated whether I should head that way to get some type of train image, or this way for a landscape. In the end the landscape won the day. I’ve shot the train before but there are always opportunities for new compositions with every outing.

More images of Bradenton from the gallery

Sometime I can’t find anything to shoot, other days I can’t make up my mind which way to shoot. Life is a series of decisions that lead to other decisions and in the end we end up exactly where we should, despite our best intentions.

May 16, 2016May 16, 2016

It Is What It Is

A couple of weeks ago we were driving over the bridge towards Ledo Key from Sarasota and I noticed the sky had become an amazing gradient from blue to pink. Suffice to say I came back a couple of evenings later to capture the scene of the palms as they lead to the bay. This is yet another perspective in my never ending quest to find new ways to compose images of this bridge. Maybe one day I’ll do an exhibition on the many faces of the Ringling Bridge, that would be fun.

I’m not the only photographer that loves bridges, it’s fairly common. One place I enjoy looking at other photos of bridges is on Ello. Ello is an amazing place to share photography and there is a group there called ellobridges. The thing about ello is it’s all about the art, not commercial at all. Anyway, here’s the link.

More images of bridges from the gallery

Actually, to be honest the bridge plays only a minor role in this image. This is really a Florida scene with the light of dusk and palm trees. I suppose you could say this is a destination photo with a mix of urban exploration. Surely I’m overthinking it, let’s just say it is what it is.

May 12, 2016

Rainbows in the Night

The Ringling bridge in Sarasota is a favorite subject of mine and finding a new perspective is a fun challenge. This fifteen-second long exposure was taken from a mile away. I used a tripod and manual focusing to make sure the details were as sharp as could be. If you zoom in you can almost see into the windows of the buildings more than a mile away.

I geek out about technical aspects of photography, I’m easily impressed by how sharp an image is or how may megapixels it has, but it shouldn’t end there. The image also needs to be something I like. That part is subjective, but I have a little trick to help me figure that part out. I look at a thumbnail of the image and if it catches my attention then it might be worthwhile.

I think that a small image can help me decide if I like it DESPITE all the technical geekiness that I love so much. In other words, it short-circuits the left brain and goes straight to the right. If the image is not interesting enough to want to get a closer look, then it’s probably not that interesting up close.

More Ringling Bridge images from the gallery

That’s my little tip for the day. It generally works but as with everything there are exceptions. So what do I see when I look at this in a thumbnail? Rainbows in the night. Now you can go zoom in a geek out at the detail.

May 9, 2016

Before Dawn

This is another long exposure of the public pier at Anna Maria Island in Florida. It was just before dawn and as usual there were already a few people milling about, mostly fishermen or those who came only to watch the sunrise; another typical morning at AMI.

Probably because of where I live I’m fascinated by bridges and piers, we seem to have a lot of both. How they make these piers, one piling at a time is amazing. To me its counter intuitive to think that you can build a solid structure into the floor of the sea. Even though it’s only a few meters deep it’s submerged. How they drill and then make sure the piling is stable is something I’d like to understand.

More images from Anna Maria Island

Pilings are big business here on the gulf coast because there are a lot of companies that specialize in it. It seems there’s always construction in the water and most of it is concerned with pilings. On the other side of AMI, facing the gulf, they are building a pier. It seems to me that the work is super slow, they’ve been at it for almost a year, but I suppose that’s the nature of the job. You don’t want to leave it to just any Tom, Dick or Harry.

Anyway, thanks to the folks that make these pilings we can sit on a pier and wait for dawn as though we hadn’t a care in the world.

May 8, 2016May 8, 2016

Shooting in the Rain

I took this last January and as usual it was raining in Vancouver. Even so I spent most of the day outdoors taking pictures. The scenes, energy and images are so different from my home in Florida, I easily get carried away and forget the time. When I finally got back to the hotel both me and my camera were soaked. When I tried to dry it off it didn’t want to work. I should have known better. I laid it on the desk, changed into some dry clothes and went for dinner. By the time I got back the camera was fine. But I made a mental note that if I ever see a nice camera rain cover I should pick it up. I just did from Peak Designs so here’s the link in case your interested.

We get rain here in Florida also, but it’s not the same by any stretch. In the summer we get crazy tropical thunderstorms and the lightening gets a little scary. Basically you don’t want to be outside when lighting is in the air, yet it creates all kinds of other artistic opportunities.

More images from the street photography gallery

Rain is good for photography, if you take the time to look you’ll see all kinds of unique compositions. For street photography the rain puts everyone a little off center and so they are carrying umbrellas or running for cover. If you’re doing landscape photography then it means the clouds will be full of drama. Either way rain is good for photography yet maybe not so much for cameras. My advice is to get a shell to save your camera so you can worry less about the equipment and concentrate more on the scenes in front of you.

May 1, 2016May 1, 2016

Early Riser

The other morning I came here to the public pier. This is one of the best places on Anna Maria Island to start the day. There are three types of people that show up for sunrise; fishermen, photographers and early risers. Well, I guess the first two could be called early risers too, but that last group not are not here for any other reason than to watch the sunrise. What do we call them, sun worshippers?

Regardless, it’s not all that crowded. Later in the day it gets a lot more visitors because this is one of the main attractions in the area, a laid back place to pass the time.

This is a long exposure of fifteen-seconds using a tripod. In fact I used a neutral density filter as well. That’s a filter that blocks the light so the exposure takes more time. The result is the appearance of no waves in the water. I like this technique along the water and I find it works best when the light is low already. At night or before dawn the filter isn’t necessary, but as soon as the sun comes up it’s hard to get an exposure for more than a second or two, thats why I use the filter. Its a little like sunblock for the camera.

More Anna Maria Island photos from the gallery

Anyway, coming here as a photographer is always fun. However I think coming here a sun worshipper might be the most fun of all.

April 27, 2016April 27, 2016

Bridge Muse

Every now and then I’ll come to Sarasota to take pictures before dawn, more often at night, but once in a while in the morning. I’m fascinated by bridges and I can never get enough of them as it pertains to photography. The challenge is finding a new way to compose a photo of a bridge I’ve already shot dozens of times. This is the Ringling bridge, named after John Ringing of circus fame. Since this area is the original home of the circus a lot of things around here have Ringling in the name.

For some reason I never shot this perspective from this side, I’ve done it from the other side but not this side. You can just make out the other side which is known as Bird Key, it has a bunch of beautiful homes along the water.

More images from Sarasota

I shot this on a Saturday about an hour before sunrise, even so the bridge was already full of runners. It’s a magnet for joggers since it has huge sidewalks and it’s the only thing around resembling a hill. In any case, I walked around here for about a half hour until I was satisfied and then headed to another location across the bay where among other things, I composed more photos with this bridge in the background.

I guess you could say this bridge is a muse of sorts.