cloudscape Archives - Page 17 of 20

June 21, 2016June 21, 2016

Half by Chance

As is normally the case, I had no idea where I was going. All I knew was that it was before dawn on a Saturday and I was driving somewhere to take a picture of something yet to be determined. It’s not a very exact plan but sometimes that’s just how I roll. Often I have no idea where I’m going when I go out to take pictures. Instead of turning left I turn right and just go with the flow of random-ness in the universe.

I ended up outside the gates at Desoto Point looking at rain clouds and trying to remember why this was better than bed. I put on a poncho and walked to the shore. I told myself that once I got there I could turn around and head home knowing that I tried. Standing there in the rain I was grateful for the solitude, and the poncho. About the same time I noticed the clouds starting to break up. Sure enough the clouds parted, the sun rose and I captured the moment with what seemed to me like a bit of luck.

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I could have left for home before the scene unfolded, or not even walked the trail to the shore. The fact that I did and stayed seemed to me at the moment to be more chance than purpose. That attitude comes from many occasions where it doesn’t work out. So I suppose the odds were in my favor this time and I managed to get the shot, even if it was half by chance.

June 3, 2016June 3, 2016

A Place to Daydream

I just had a conversation with a fellow photographer and while we have differences in how we approach our craft, we’re both working to bring more simplicity to our images. That’s easier said that done. Any direction we turn there are dozens of things to fill up our field of vision. How often would we describe our surroundings as an aesthetic of simplicity; for most of us, rarely if ever.

So I look for vignettes of simplicity within a frame of my surrounding. A vignette is a subset of my field of view, the whole scene broke into little rectangles. That’s how I find simplicity. Another way to put it is we just need to keep reducing our scope until simplicity emerges from the clutter.

other fine art images from the gallery

So when we simplify something, it becomes more accessible as an idea. It becomes an archetype of sorts and then our imaginations can begin to fill in. For me this is the essence of art, to hold attention and evoke imagination. When we look at a scene and we are drawn in, we are daydreaming inside that scene. And what better way to appreciate something than to daydream inside of it.

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 11, 2016

What Dreams May Come

This is a stretch of Highway 41 in Punta Gorda Florida; southbound on the left and northbound on the right. The image is a dreamscape of sorts, how I imagine it looks in a dream.

Have you ever noticed that an artists rendering of a building or architecture is always a little prettier than reality? That’s because its the artists idea or conception of something that, in the end, will never quite look that good. Nevertheless, we hold onto that image in our minds until the project is complete. We go along with it, the artist’s idea that is, because it’s now what we imagine also.

On a slightly different tack, if it wasn’t for dreamers we would never get anywhere. Those who dream new things are catalysts, agents of change, maybe even radicals. Dreamers tend to be disrupters, people that are not afraid to disregard norms on the way to a new normal. Dreamers are generally ahead of their time and quite often not appreciated, only in retrospect do we think of them as genius.

More dreamscapes from the gallery

So back to the photo, I manipulated it until because I had an idea of what it might look like in different circumstances. It’s not a radical new idea but it’s my idea of what something could look like. Maybe, one day, something will come of it. You never know.

May 5, 2016May 5, 2016

New Eyes

I read somewhere that (I’m paraphrasing) photography teaches us to see things without a camera. I think that’s true because I’m always looking up in the sky at the clouds or looking around for interesting sights. On this morning while walking the dog I noticed the early light on the bridge, the reflection in the water and the clouds that looked like a painting. While there were other people walking nearby, I might have been the only person to notice all these at once.

There was nothing special about the morning I took this, a typical morning by all accounts. Yet I’m always looking for compositions even when I’m not taking photos. It’s the practice of being present in the moment. I don’t always succeed, but more and more I’m in the habit of being aware.

Also, just showing up at a location is half the battle. Not always but usually I can find a composition. It really depends but the more I try the more it happens.

Another thing I’ve read is that as a photographer you should be well practiced in your own neighborhood. That forces me to push and see everyday sights with new eyes.

Anyway, all of these things together and this is what my new eyes picked up while walking the dog.

More images of bridges from the gallery

May 4, 2016

Two Worlds

I think the reason I gravitate to these types of images has to do with an idea. I imagine an ethereal world that coexists with the one we’re in. If more than one radio frequency can exist in the same place, perhaps it applies to other things as well. Images like this are like focusing an imaginary lens on a world nearly adjacent to our own. The image has parts of this world and parts in the next, a peek through the veil.

When I took this I was on approach to the ferry pier at Fort DeSoto Park. I sat at the front of the boat as we returned from Egmont Key. My idea was to capture the pier from the perspective of the water, yet I wasn’t quite satisfied with the result. That’s when my right brain took over and I imagined a world just out of vision yet overlapping with this.

some of my favorite images from the gallery

I suppose another reason I gravitate towards images like this is the theme of simplicity. I’ve been posting about that recently. Living in a complex world I long for simplicity, so when I let go of critical thinking for a moment I gravitate to a more relaxed place. In that world the water is smoother and the clouds flowing. It’s a world that surely exists my mind, and for all I know, beyond that.

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 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 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.