Bradenton Archives - Page 8 of 19

December 30, 2016January 5, 2017

Manatee Memorial Hospital

This is the Manatee Memorial Hospital which is across the river from my home. I don’t normally take pictures of hospitals but this perspective across the water was hard to pass up. Reflections make anything look good, it could be a Walmart and if it was reflected in the water I’d probably take a picture of it.

Daily Photo

I am fortunate to live so close to a hospital, you never know when it will come in handy. Its come in handy a few times for family and neighbors since I moved here. My wife stayed here once and every now and then we would hear a lullaby over the speakers. Its what they do whenever a baby is born. As I write this it’s just before New Years and they’ll play it again for the first baby of 2017. I imagine it will draw applause.

Did you know the police tend to spend a lot of time at hospitals? There are many reasons but one is that sometimes people get injured as they try to flee. It seems every time I drive by there are patrol cars parked near the emergency entrance.

long exposure images from the gallery

It’s no wonder that police will often marry nurses. They meet in the line of work and it goes from there. They both work in public service so they have that in common as well.

I think its fair to say that hospitals, and the people that work in them have seen just about everything. I hope I don’t ever need to come here, but if I do I know I’ll be in good hands, and not far from home.

December 20, 2016

Foggy Night at the Dock

This is a foggy night at the dock in Bradenton Florida. We get fog at certain times of the year and it typically lasts only for a couple of weeks. It will roll in at night and blanket the area. I’ve been waiting for it since last year so I headed on a recent evening to capture some images.

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The fog makes everything look mysterious, like a scene from a movie. Even the simplest of scenes take on a sense of intrigue. Street lights form triangular shapes as they fan towards the ground, and in this case are reflected in the still dark waters of the river.

A simple setting that I’ve seen a hundred times appears different, even foreign. People appear slightly veiled as though involved in some intrigue. I’ve watched too many thrillers, but it seems certain that if there are spies nearby, this is when they come out to devise their plots. Or not.

images from riverwalk

If it seems to you like I get a little carried away then you would be correct. As a photographer I get carried away whenever the weather changes. It evokes my imagination and together with familiar settings I concoct all manner of fictional scenarios. But then it’s my job to bring you the story, not the facts.

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.

manatee county images

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.

night photography gallery

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 5, 2016October 5, 2016

Sunrise Taking Shape

On Monday I noticed a sunrise taking shape as I drove home from the gym. So I grabbed my gear and headed across the river to capture the colors as they lite the sky. I barely made it on account of all the traffic, most people were driving to work. By the time I finished and headed back over the bridge the roads were clogged, fortunate for me I was returning against the traffic. But by the time I got home showered and got ready for work, I was late. But you know something? Getting a nice photo makes it all worth while. Hello Monday.

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This is a combination of two long exposure shots. The bottom half is a three minute exposure and the top half is a five-second exposure. I put it all together with the help of AuroraHDR 2017, an updated photo editing tool from Macphun and Trey Ratcliff. Every now and then I take a photo that begs to have the original colors restored, this is one. By that I mean that the colors of a photo are never as full as the actual scene. AuroraHDR allows some of that to be restored. Of course I use artistic license as well because photography is an expression of art for me.

sunrise gallery

As I write this it’s a couple of days later on Wednesday, aka hump day. I don’t know about you but I look forward to the weekend. Three more days to go. Then all is good, I can take more photos, I can spend more time outside, I can be free for a couple of days, free of deadlines, work, worries. Then, Monday rolls around again and we start it all over again. But maybe with a few Mondays like this I might not mind it so much. (Fingers crossed)

September 28, 2016September 28, 2016

Sunrise on the Manatee

This is a one minute exposure of Sunrise on the Manatee River in Bradenton. People that show up here for a morning walk see a version of this every day. I’m not a regular so for me it’s an extra special treat. One thing for sure, the sunrise walkers are super friendly. I must have had half a dozen people come up and say good morning while I was taking pictures. It was like they had organized a welcome committee. It was awesome.

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Most mornings the river is smooth like glass and the long exposure has a tendency to make it look even more so. The clouds were moving towards me and you can see a little of that action at the top. All in all I like how this turned out and there was very little I did to adjust the final image. I love editing photos but in some cases the original speaks for itself and needs very little help.

manatee county gallery

I came here looking for a totally different shot. I thought the clouds would be fuller and all lit up with the warm glow of the sun. For whatever reason that never happened. Being flexible is key to photography, especially if you shoot landscapes outside. You just never know for sure what you’ll get. In this case I got an unexpected scene and about a half dozen good mornings.

September 27, 2016September 27, 2016

Nature’s Fireworks

What do you call a place that starts the day with a sunrise and ends with nature’s fireworks? I call it Florida in summer. Normally the thunderstorms come in the afternoon but once in a while they’ll occur at night. The spectacle is both awesome and beautiful. The lightning flashes occur every few seconds appearing like something out of a science fiction movie. When I first moved here I was awestruck, now I’m more or less accustomed to it.

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Most people stay indoors, it’s not a good idea to be outside when this happens. Getting struck by lightning is a real possibility in this region. That being said, I was a couple of miles away from these strikes and after just a few shots I retreated to my car. A picture may be worth a thousand words but it’s not worth getting hurt over.

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But, thunderstorms rarely last for very long. Within a few minutes the lightning stopped, the rain started and it all blew over within about forty-minutes. Even though its officially autumn, the tropical weather continues here in Florida for about another month. Then, sometime in mid-to-late October we’ll get a cool front and it all stops as quickly as it started. But for now, we still have a few weeks of nature’s fireworks remaining.

September 19, 2016September 19, 2016

Lightning Storms

I live in an area of Florida where lightning storms are common. Growing up in California I remember the one lightning storm I ever saw. Now living here it’s so common I hardly notice. However I did notice this one as I drove home from the beach last weekend.

Daily Photo

Normally there’s thunder as well but sometimes the lightning is silent. I’m not really sure why that is. Quite often the lightning will stay in the clouds rather than strike the ground. In cases like that the lightning can be so frequent that its like watching fireworks, a flash every couple of seconds. The evening I took this it was about every ten-seconds.

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To capture lightning you need a tripod. Once mounted I use manual mode on my Sony. I set the shutter speed to Bulb and using the remote I open the shutter until a flash of lighting occurs and then close it. In this case the shutter was open for six-seconds.

It really is a lot of fun. It’s a little like a meditation just sitting there in front of a nice scene capturing pictures of lightning.