clouds Archives - Page 29 of 37

April 26, 2016

The Stroll

Florida is a retiree heaven. Afternoons like this are when you find people out strolling about, sitting on piers and basically passing the time. I wonder if I’ll ever do that, it seems a little to passive for my taste, I’d rather be taking pictures or riding a bike, but you never know. All the retirees I know say they are more busy after retirement than before. That’s counterintuitive but in a way makes sense.

This is a lazy afternoon scene at the pier in Terra Ceia. These mangroves created a natural frame leading to the water along the boardwalk. Mangroves are everywhere along the coast and are responsible for Florida being on the map. A slight exaggeration but they prevent the erosion against the tide and storms. So unless you are on a beach, you’ll see these mangroves everywhere, and thanks to them Florida hasn’t yet washed away.

checkout more sunset photos in the gallery

Getting back to the main subject, I do spend a lot of time where people are strolling, even if I’m not strolling myself. People like to stroll where the scenery is nice and of course that’s where I like to take photos. So even if I don’t end up retiring and going for a stroll in the afternoon, I’ll have plenty of knowledge on the subject. I’ll become what is known in industry as a SME; a Subject Matter Expert. Having lived in retiree heaven I’ll have an encyclopedic knowledge in the ways, means and methods of strolling.

April 24, 2016April 24, 2016

Pure and Simple

These surf kites at the midpoint of the Sunshine Skyway in Tampa and can be seen for miles away whenever there’s a breeze. Once in a while I’ll pull off the highway to watch. The main impression I get is of the contrast of these colorful canopies moving against the sky. They are mesmerizing to watch and this is a simplification of that scene as it appears in my minds eye.

The wind here changes direction from one day to the next and depending on that the surfers alternate from one side of the causeway to the other. The spectacle of the scene is so compelling it’s a wonder there aren’t accidents as drivers crane their heads to get a look.

In my way of thinking, I’m always trying to simplify things. I work and live in a complex world and what helps is if I can simplify the complexity a bit. I do this by removing things that I feel are unnecessary to the central core or subject of a thing. In this case, the subject is little colorful kites in a big sky, so to convey that I needed to remove as many distractions as possible. I think this might not be a bad philosophy to live by. In fact it’s called de-cluttering, and now there are de-clutter coaches you can hire to help with de-cluttering you life. We’ll, I’m no guru or coach, but I do like to get to the essence of a thing, and in this case, it’s all about the kites.

Pure and simple.

Some other images with or around this bridge

April 22, 2016

Decompression

Maybe like a lot of you, I sit at a desk all week. Monday through Friday, day-in, day-out. I restrain my movements to a few square feet while I talk or listen endlessly on meeting after meeting. The week is a progression of days leading ever so slowly to the last hurdle, Friday. On Friday morning emails are tinged flippant references to what awaits in another eight hours. Then finally, after an eternity, it comes.

This is what decompression looks like, a central mass expanding. Friday feels like this.

Friday night, Saturday and Sunday during the day are all free. Free of deadlines, free of worries, free of compression. Then, sometime Sunday afternoon or evening, the realization that it’s almost over kicks in. I watch my favorite shows, think about what I wish I’d done, go to bed.

Monday morning is all business, get the dog walked, get to work, get through e-mails before my first meeting. Settle in, focus on the task, narrow my center of mass. Five more days to go.

Hey, check out my favorite images here. But, if you don’t agree, pick your own favorites here.

April 20, 2016April 20, 2016

Sense of Direction

This is from my trip to New Zealand a couple of years ago where I participated in a photography workshop. After all of the time that’s gone by I still have a lot of photos in my backlog to process. Here we were standing on a hill one afternoon overlooking Queenstown. That trip went by so fast I’m glad I have photos to re-live it in little increments later.

Whenever I go somewhere new it can be a little disorienting. By that I mean I’m never to sure which way is north south east or west. I remember having that feeling when I was here and struggling to sort it out in my mind. I love going back to Google Maps or Google Earth to look at places I’ve been and get a proper sense of direction and location. It’s helps me to integrate the experience after the fact.

For instance, with this shot I keep expecting to see the river, but it’s to my back as I was facing south. When we headed to Glenorchy, I thought we were driving south but it’s actually north. And if all that isn’t enough, on the last day I took a helicopter through the southern alps during which I had zero sense of whereabouts. Thankfully I was geotagging my photos, so now years later I can go back and begin to piece the locations together into some kind map of the journey.

Perhaps the sense of not knowing where we are in a new land adds to the sense wonder and excitement. I think perhaps, there might be something to that.

More images from the New Zealand gallery

April 19, 2016April 19, 2016

Water Ride

I was driving to the park the other day with my dog and looked over to see these horseback riders going the other way. It’s not everyday that you see a bunch of horses swimming the other way, but there they were. Actually this is well known in my area. Along the causeway in Bradenton people come to ride horses in the water. It’s a fun thing to watch and many times I’ve pulled over to look at the horses, but this is the first time I saw them all in the water at once so I couldn’t resist taking a photo.

My dog is so funny, he’s normally so quiet, but when he sees horses or cows he loves to bark. I’m not sure what it is but I think they might be big dogs to him. Whatever the case, it’s hilarious since he’s so quite otherwise. Suffice to say he got in a few words as these “big dogs” passed us by.

The big puffy clouds seem to make the whole scene surreal. This is my favorite time of year in Florida, the weather is perfect in every way. Of course that’s why so many people come here to get a break from the cold and snow. In another month we’ll start getting humidity and thunderstorms and then there is a completely different type of drama in the skies. Also, I think once it gets hotter the horses really like coming here to cool off. Not a bad way for the big dogs to spend the afternoon.

More images from my county in the Gallery

April 14, 2016April 14, 2016

Through the Weeds

I live next to this abandoned housing development, I can see it out my window. The development was abandoned before the houses could be built so there are roads and a harbour but nothing else. Sometimes I’ll head over to take photos, especially if the sky has nice clouds. This was early on a Sunday morning and its safe to say there was no one else in sight.

I’m always a little cautious when I come here since it’s basically a wild area save for the construction remnants. I’ve seen alligators in the creek and we found a fourteen foot snake skin on the fence. At night I’ve seen a fox and we hear the coyotes as well. Given the lack of human traffic here it’s likely I could startle a creature as I walk around, so just being aware of my surroundings and keeping my eyes open is probably a good idea.

Gallery images from my hometown of Palmetto

Anyway, this is an HDR image that I processed in AuroraHDR Pro. The way you can tell is that I not only can we see the sun but the green color of the plants from the perspective of the camera. I combined five images (-3, -3,-1,0 and +1) to get the full dynamic range into the image. I didn’t have a lot of great composition choices so I just started playing around with the idea of the sunset from behind the weeds. I can’t tell you why but I like how it turned out. Maybe one day there will be a house right here and this is the view someone wakes up to each day, minus the weeds of course.

Check out the Landscape gallery on Flickr

April 13, 2016April 13, 2016

South Jetty

This is taken In Venice Florida at a jetty leading into the intercostal waterway. This is the South Jetty, the other side is the North Jetty. I’ve always gone to the North Jetty to take pictures, it’s a little hard to find but I know the way and it’s one of my favorite locations. I’ve always looked across to the South Jetty and wondered how to get here. I’ve tried a few times and always ended up in dead ends. So a couple of weeks ago I finally figured it out and I couldn’t be more embarrassed. It’s way easier to get to than the North Jetty, just drive through Venice, take a right, and you’re here.

How did we get ever along without a GPS. Does anyone read maps anymore? They still sell them but I think map reading is becoming a lost skill. Pretty soon we’ll just talk to our self driving cars and Siri will drive us. I could have said, “Hey Siri, drive me to the South Jetty” and I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have ended up in a dead end.

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That day when Siri does the driving is coming soon. I think all the technology is in place and it’s now just a matter of the laws and regulations catching up. Our cell phones are extensions of ourselves, why not our cars? Hey Siri, drive me to the map store. I wonder if she knows what that is?

See more images from Sarasota County

April 10, 2016April 10, 2016

Queenstown Reboot

This is an image I took on my first day in New Zealand about two years ago. As you can see from the colors it was autumn in the southern hemisphere. If I recall I was so happy to see all the fall colors that I quickly processed the photo and posted it a few hours later.

Now when I look back on that image I realize my tastes have changed. That’s a nice way of saying the other picture makes my eyes bleed. The colors of the original are amped up quite a bit and appear too bright and unrealistic.

And so as I was looking at some of my old photos the other day and I thought to myself, why don’t I reprocess this? Since I have the original RAW files I did, only his time I used different tools and techniques I’ve acquired over the years.

More New Zealand images from the Gallery

This is a three image HDR that I originally combined in Photomatix Pro, this time in AuroraHDR Pro. Last time I wanted the colors to blast so I oversaturated them, this time I wanted it to be a little more realistic. I think both versions have their pros and cons, (I’m being kind again). The old image looks pretty good as a thumbnail or on a phone, this one looks better on a large screen or print.

Each image has its place, but as I continue to evolve as a photographer and artist my taste change and so do my techniques. This is just another example of that. I plan on reprocessing a few more from that trip so stay tuned.

April 6, 2016

Out of the Box

This image is right out of the box, basically just as I shot it, nothing added or subtracted. I consider myself a pictorialist and it’s not often that I post an image that I haven’t processed, but this just seems to work for me.

I took this on Fort Lauderdale beach in southern Florida along the Atlantic coast. I got up early one morning to take pictures before the beach got too crowded. Actually, this was my second walk on the beach, I had been here before sunrise as well but as you can see the beach was still quite deserted, normal I suppose for a Sunday morning.

check out more images in the Florida gallery

One thing that struck me was how the sand felt. As I walked my feet would sink in several inches, almost as though it were a type of quicksand. That made for an arduous trek up and down the beach. Another way to put it would be to say it was a good workout; either way it took serious effort. Anyway these imprints were left in the sand where others had walked. I like how it looks well trodden yet empty at the same time.

Funny thing is I didn’t notice the seagull when I took the picture. That happens a lot, I’m usually so engrossed in looking for a scene that things can happen that I don’t see until I look at it later. I think that’s just a natural consequence of being out taking photos, good stuff is bound to happen.

March 31, 2016April 5, 2016

Track Crossing

These tracks cross the Manatee River between Bradenton and Palmetto. A lot of people like to stop here and take pictures, for some reason it seems to be a popular spot for prom photos. I suppose it’s an iconic location in this small blue collar town. Every morning and evening we hear the train blowing its horn as it crosses the river on the way to the plant.

I know I’m repeating myself, I’ve taken this image before. But every now and then I’ll do that, go back to a place where I’ve taken an image and do it again. Each time it’s a little different, I approach it with slightly newer eyes. Regardless, I think this shot always ends up being a little gritty, full on urban, no sunsets or beaches.

Other photos from the riverwalk section of Bradenton

The bridge here is almost a mile long. In the middle is a section that lifts to let the boats pass. I’ve seen fishermen walk out on this although there are signs all over warning people to stay off. The river itself is fairly shallow except in the center. Just the other day I saw a couple of fishermen walk under these tracks in about two feet of water about a quarter mile out from the other side. Big rivers being what they are I find that a little extreme, you won’t find me doing that any time soon.

More “urbex” from the gallery