manateecounty Archives - Page 18 of 38

March 1, 2017March 1, 2017

Things We Overlook

Lately I’ve been taking photos close to home. No matter where we live there are things we overlook. Yesterday I posted a photo along a busy highway. By simply turning around the scene looks remote and secluded. A theme for me in photography, and I suppose life, is perspective. It informs much of what I do. I look for a perspective that resonates amongst the distractions of an urban setting.

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The other night I walked along a trail by the river to take photos of the sunset. As I was returning to my car I noticed this mangrove along the shore. Normally they are clustered together but this stood out with its extended roots. The roots are what protect the shores of Florida from erosion by tides and storms. They are vital to the ecosystem.

Sometimes I see unexpected things by simply turning the camera in a particular direction. From that comes vignettes of nature like this. Most of us live in urban landscapes. As much as I crave nature in national parks, I spend most of my time amongst roads, buildings and power lines.

palmetto photos

Maybe it’s a form of preference. I look for things I need to see. I see them because I’m looking. And at times like this day I see things I wasn’t even looking for. “If you try sometime, you get what you need.”

February 28, 2017February 28, 2017

Slightly Different Light

This is a park bench next to the river. If I could order coffee from this spot it wold be perfect. I could however get a cup at Dunkin Donuts and sit here at sunrise. This is an urban beach with a busy highway just behind me. This is also an example of taking some common scene from an urban setting and portraying it in a slightly different light.

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Slightly Different Light — Showing a common scene in a slightly different light

An HDR image, this is made up of three exposures. I manually blended the exposures to get the mood I wanted. The main focus is the light of the sun reflected on the water and table. I took this as the sun was just emerging between two layers of clouds.

I had taken several other shots of just the water and the clouds, but thought they lacked a foreground subject. So I used the picnic table to provide a sense of depth.

Tens of thousands of people drive by this spot every day, but here I’m using my imagination to make something out of nothing. Its a way to practice the craft and make soup out of stone. It’s not a fantastic image, but it was fun to shoot and process.

other images of this river

Actually, on a Sunday when there isn’t the usual commuter traffic on the roads this is a very nice spot to have a picnic. Anyway, enough said, time to go get a coffee.

February 27, 2017February 27, 2017

I’m Not the Only One

This was taken after a couple days of rain. When it finally cleared up the clouds looked like feathers in the sky. I procrastinated and by the time I decided to take pictures there was not much time left. I quickly drove to a nearby spot by the bridge. Simultaneously as I pulled up so did several other vehicles. It seems I’m not the only one looking for a sunset at the very last minute.

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I'm Not the Only One — I’m not the only one looking for pictures of the sunset

I stood across the street from the water so as not to be obtrusive as I captured this fisherman in profile. He looked up anyway then turned around to take his own picture of the sunset with a phone.

A little to the right a family of seven poured out of a minivan to snap pictures and selfies along the seawall. They must have taken dozens of photos in the fifteen minutes before they loaded back in the van and drove off. I’m sure the pictures were on Facebook and Instagram servers before they ever got home.

It boggles my mind to think how many photos are stored in the cloud. It reminds me of the Akashic records. According to eastern philosophies the Akashic records are a repository of everything that has transpired on earth, maybe even beyond. It seems to me we’re in the process of creating our own digital Akashic records. Now imagine that these photos and videos are all linked together by an enormous Google mind. We could have a record of nearly everything. Of course the digital version only begins within the last ten years, but going forward we have much of it covered.

sunset images

If I’m going to contribute to the photo memory of our planet then I want to save some seaside scenes like this. My photos will be under the sunset section. But if you can’t find them there you could always go back to the Akashic records, they should be in there somewhere.

February 23, 2017February 23, 2017

Miami to Dallas

I took this one night on a pier facing the Gulf of Mexico. I only noticed the streak of light after I returned home. If I had to guess I’d say it’s a commuter flight from Miami to Dallas. Sometimes when I travel out west, I go to Miami first and then fly back over my town in central Florida. I have no way of knowing for sure.

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The commuter flight from Miami to Dallas

I sat on this pier, the only person at the beach in the late hour, aiming at the heavens with my camera and tripod. At fifteen-seconds, this is a relatively short exposure for night photography. But I planned it that way because anything longer than about 20 seconds creates star trails with the rotation of the earth. To get this I set the ISO to 1600 and my lens aperture to f2.8. That lets enough light in for the stars and causes the water to appear flat.

I like taking photos at night, especially of I can capture stars. But I’ve never gotten a great image of the Milky way. I have plenty of opportunities, it’s just a matter of knowing when to drag myself out at night and point the camera in the right direction. There are plenty of clear nights where I live so I’m beginning to think I should work on that.

night photography

The other day I wrote something about the number of stars in the Galaxy and the universe. Suffice to say it’s a number too large to comprehend. That being said, I can think of no better way to try than to sit out on this pier at night and see how many I can jam into my camera. And who knows, I might even catch a commuter flight while I’m at it.

February 6, 2017February 6, 2017

Saturday Night Fireworks

These are the Saturday night fireworks we had here in my hometown for the annual regatta. It’s the third year and each year it gets bigger and bigger. They shut down one of the main bridge so people can stand on it to watch the Formula One races. Those boats are pushing the limits of the laws of physics, it really is crazy to watch. The day is filled with food, acrobatic displays and concerts and ends with a firework display.

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I took this from across the river near my home in Palmetto. Palmetto is a small town compared to Bradenton, but they share the river and during the regatta each city joins together to put on the show.

When I arrived at the little beachhead along the river to watch the fireworks there was a couple already sitting in their lawn chairs waiting for the fireworks. I asked how it was going and the guy replied it was a little cold. We laughed but basically called him on it. He was from upstate New York and his son just sent him a picture of the snow up there. Here we all were in shorts and sandals watching fireworks. Maybe he was just being facetious so I told him to send back a picture and see if he gets any sympathy from the folks up north.

Bradenton Images

I’m fortunate to live here in Florida especially at this time of year. I just returned from a couple of weeks in Canada and I can say with certainty that it is not cold here. The only cold thing is the ice in the fridge that we use to keep our drinks cold.

January 24, 2017January 24, 2017

Sailing Nowhere

As far as I can tell this boat has been here for years and is sailing nowhere. One morning I headed over by the water to take pictures of the sunrise. There is a mooring field between two bridges and it’s a place to watch the sunrise or sunset depending on which way you’re facing. My theory is that this is an abandoned boat because it’s been here for years and never seems to move. Before I moved to Florida it never occurred to me but apparently there are abandoned boats out there. From a purely aesthetic point of view, they make for good picture taking.

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I doubt that removing the vessels is high on any municipal agenda. Eventually a hurricane come along and sink the craft and then mother nature begins her slow process of reclaiming it.

I showed up early to take this and to my surprise, someone else was there at the same time taking pictures as well. To be honest I was a little surprised. I live in a small town and rarely is anyone other than myself taking photos in the morning. In a big city or a national landmark yes, of course, I would expect all manner of photographers. But Palmetto? Well, anyway we both took some photos of that lovely morning and then went our separate ways.

Florida Gallery

As for this boat, it just stayed in this one spot and I’m pretty sure it hasn’t moved since.

January 21, 2017January 21, 2017

Morning Across the River

I remember taking this one morning across the river. I recently posted a similar shot from the same morning. This is a long exposure of about three minutes so that everything appears smooth and serene. That’s a theme with me, gravitating toward images that convey still and calm; that’s probably a response to living in a frenetic world.

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Often when I come here in the morning to shoot a sunrise the joggers and walkers will remark to me about what a nice shot I’m getting. They have that subtle pride of ownership in their voice as though they are sharing something of theirs with me. They are here every day and I’m not a regular. So perhaps in their eyes they are sharing “their” sunrise view with me. If I think about it, it begins to make a little sense.

I relate to the sensibility because as I reflect I realize that I do the same thing. When guests come to visit us in Florida I “share” beautiful locations with them, and almost subconsciously do it in a way that indicates it’s something I own. Of course nothing can be further from the truth, a person cannot own a view or scene. Nonetheless, something inside of us feels the need to impart ownership of a thing we cannot own. Funny, eh?

long exposures in the gallery

Anyway, this is one of my views of the river that I would like to share with you. If you like it, then by all means please feel free to borrow it.

January 18, 2017January 18, 2017

People Watching at the Beach

I headed over here for a walk and do some people watching along the beach. I’m glad I did on account of the scenery and the spectacle people that where there to watch the sunset. I’ve mentioned before on the blog about how these crowds of people come to watch the sunset, but I still find it fascinating. Most of the people shown here are from out of town and just the thought of standing by the water watching a sunset is like a dream. Maybe even a dream come true.

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People Watching at the Beach in Holmes Beach, Florida

Its fun to take random shots of crowds. I didn’t particularly know everything that was going on around me as I worked with my camera. Nevertheless I find it interesting to go back and look closer at the scene. There is no way to take it all in when there, everything changes from one minute to the next. We can see what each person is doing. An interesting study, so many lives and the only thing in common is the location.

Anyway, it was an experience to remember because the next day I was on a plane for Vancouver where its pretty much the opposite of this; cold, dark and rainy. Even so there are a lot of cool things to see in Vancouver and the change of scenery provides contrast. It also reminds me of how fortunate I am to live where I can go to the beach in the middle of winter.

beach gallery

The long hot stormy summers seem like a distant memory now. I will enjoy my time in the cold, dark rainy North almost as much as these folks enjoyed the beach. Almost.

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.