fortdesotopark Archives - Page 3 of 3

March 23, 2016March 23, 2016

Wings of Angels

This is one of the places I go to whenever I need to get away. Friday evening I walked along the seawall with my dog and soaked in the muted tones of blue, green and grey. I had come up here hoping for a sunset but what I got was better. This is Fort DeSoto Park is in St Petersburg Florida.

By simply making the effort to show up and be observant I notice things I might otherwise overlook. The textures and patterns in the clouds are an example. I once heard that these are the wings of angels. Maybe, but whatever posses them to form such shapes is beyond my comprehension.

More seascapes from the gallery

In the foreground is the concrete reinforcement of the seawall. Beyond is the Gulf of Mexico. Ships pass by here on the way in and out of Tampa Bay. If you look closely you’ll see two large vessels along the horizon. A few minutes later I watched as one passed by.

At this time of day the crowds have left and you can pretty much have the whole place to your self. There were one or two other souls along the seawall enjoying the tranquillity, or perhaps just communing with their thoughts. Maybe those angels had something to do with it.

December 29, 2015December 29, 2015

Fort De Soto Beach

Visits to the beach

This is Fort De Soto Beach a couple of days ago. With the holiday over we decided to head to the beach and unwind. This is a section that looks across towards the Sunshine Skyway Bridge as it enters Tampa Bay. I don’t spend as much time at the beach as you might think. I go for photography quite a bit, but to sit and vegetate, rarely. I suppose that’s common among us who live here, we take it for granted. I go maybe two or three times a year. But as I say, for photography I go many more times than that. In the end it doesn’t matter because I do spend time along the shore with the waves, breeze and sunsets; I do not take that for granted, at least not yet.

How I created the Image

I worked on this image for several hours this evening. I used a motion blur and carefully blended the original layer. Prior to that I created about ten layers in Photoshop to carefully craft the image to an idea I had in my minds eye. Then finally I used a Lightroom preset to give it an overall desaturated tone.

What I was thinking at the time

You may understand some of these technical details but if not, no worries. The point is, on some images I spend a lot of time and effort to transform an image into something resembling a dreamscape. For no other reason than I like to and, I think that dreams can be just as important as ordinary life. I’ve heard that we make our own reality, so if that’s true, then sometimes I like to create a reality that is a little bit ethereal like a dream, one that I would like to inhabit if I could; at least in my mind.

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.