inspired photography with just enough perspective
This is another shot of Half Moon Bay I captured while on a stopover in the San Francisco area. While I love the west coast of Florida, there is no comparison to the rugged beauty that is California. Sure, each is unique, but there’s something about California. I’ll just leave it at that, let you fill in your own thoughts. With any luck I’ll head out here again in the not too distant future to soak up more of whatever it is. Happy Friday everyone.
This is a relatively new park that I’ve passed many times on the interstate but never bothered to check it out. That’s because I had this preconceived notion that because it was by a highway it couldn’t be all that good. I was pleasantly surprised in that only a portion of it is along the highway and that there is plenty of space for ponds and areas of restoration and habitation of the local wildlife. This pond had a warning sign about the alligators, so I was on the lookout as I captured this. In the end the only thing that bit me was a few fire-ants amongst the tall grasses as I composed the shot. Now that I know better I’ll come back, keeping a close eye on where I step.
Recently I’ve visited the Rosa Fiorelli winery in Manatee County not far from my home. This is a small family run winery that has won many awards for it’s wines as well as the hearts of locals, me included. Sal, the owner was kind enough to allow me back in the evening to get a few shots of the vineyard at dusk. I’m originally from California and used to wineries everywhere, But finding such a beautiful winery in my own backyard here in Florida is an unexpected pleasure.
So this is the season when we get a lot of lightning. By “a lot”, I mean, …at this time of year this part of Florida gets more lightning than any place on earth. At least that’s what I heard, but I’m too lazy to look it up and back up my “facts”, but I think it’s true. On a typical afternoon I can look out the window and see a flash almost every second. Usually it’s a good ten miles off, but occasionally it’s right over the house. It really scares my dog. All of this is a long winded way of saying that when I took this, there was lighting overhead. This lady was a little braver than me, all I could do was snap a picture of her and then run back to my car. I think she did the same thing shortly thereafter.
The northern beach of Fort DeSoto in St. Petersburg. The heron kept one eye on me while he fished for dinner, and I kept one eye on him as I lined up my shot. Maybe there’s a message in that or, not so much. Just a simple image of the beach to get us all in the mood for the weekend. Have a great one everybody.
I had to look this up because Google kept telling me this is Lake Unknown. That sounds to me like a software glitch, like what happens when the name is missing. Turns out this is indeed Lake Unknown on the border of Otago in New Zealand. You would have to climb some good size mountains to get here and that’s probably how it got it’s name. Just after we lifted off we flew through a micro rain shower as I held my camera outside for a clear shot of us flying through the opening at the far end. The high ridge then quickly descended to the Dart River as we headed onto more destinations equally as spectacular, if not unknown.
Last summer we took a train across the Canadian Rockies and this was a shot on the first morning as we approached Kamloops BC. I didn’t sleep much and was up early to capture the train as we followed the Thompson River. I must go back and do this again.
This is another shot from the chopper while flying through New Zealand’s southern alps. Not having flown like this before I was a little overwhelmed… okay, I was very overwhelmed. In any case, my normal daily routine typically doesn’t include speeding towards jagged mountain ridges in an open helicopter, ascending just over the top only to have the ridge fall away into an impossible chasm. I see it in movies, but in real life it takes getting used to. In other words I was completely freaked out yet exhilarated at the same time. I dealt with my fear by concentrating on capturing as many images as I could which took all of my concentration so that in the end I began to relax a little. I took about a thousand images in four hours and this is one that captures, at least for me, the drama of that trip.
This is about an hours drive north of Vancouver and is one of the spots you can catch a ferry to Vancouver Island. There are campsites nearby and I could see the smoke from campfires already started. It’s such a great feeling to be surrounded by these huge mountains. The people in this part of Canada are into the outdoors in a big way. On this afternoon I saw campers, kayakers, fishermen, rock climbers and cyclist, not to mention people just walking around enjoying the view. When you’re surrounded with this much beauty it’s only natural to spend a bit of time outside enjoying it, don’t you think?
