seascape Archives - Page 16 of 20

August 14, 2016August 14, 2016

Waters Edge

I went to this point at the waters edge not sure what I’d shoot. I took a few shots of this or that but nothing really clicked (no pun intended). I was walking back to my car when I looked back to see this group of people talking at the waters edge. This ended up being the shot that I liked the most.

I suppose standing at the waters edge is a metaphor for a border between this world and the next. When we stand there we look out and contemplate. At least that’s how I interpret this scene. For all I know they could be talking about where to go for dinner. Anyway, in my photograph they are looking out in contemplation, that’s my story and i’m sticking to it.

Emerson Pont photos

This place is ten minutes from home and one of my favorite spots to go. Sometimes I come in the morning but mostly at dusk. There is an automated gate that closes just after sunset. I tend to linger and several times I’ve been asked to leave by the ranger. I will get permission one day to stay later so that I can get some clear shots of the night sky. But for the time being the shot will be of people in contemplation at the waters edge.

August 11, 2016August 11, 2016

Restored at Lido Beach

This is one of my favorite places to come and walk the beach. It’s on the southern tip of Lido Beach in Sarasota. The reason I like it so much is that’s it’s secluded and at the very tip of the key. Right behind where I’m standing is the end of the key and fishermen typically stand there to catch fish coming in or out with the tide.

Restored at Ledo Beach — Walking along the waves is a good way to get restored at Lido Beach

There are hotels up further to the right, but this spot is a park so if you come here during the sunset hour you can get lost in the scenery, breeze and warm water at your feet without the crowds you get in front of the hotels.

beach gallery

I work in an office all day and when I come here and walk in the water its restorative. It’s a natural consequence of being outside in a place like this. I have a dog that sleeps at my desk during the day. When I take him out for a mid-day walk he likes to lay down on the pavement and soak up the sun. He will not move until he feels better. I suppose that simple act restores something missing from being inside. The same is true for me when I come here to Lido, I am restored.

August 3, 2016

Quality of Light

The rains we had recently created some very nice sunsets. I came here on a whim to see if I could get some shots and lucked out on account of the clouds and light. Just as much as the sunset I like to capture the quality of light. When that blazing ball recess below the horizon everything we see is from reflected light. And the lower it sinks the more atmosphere it travels through casting a soft and warm glow. If the conditions are right, that glow is unlike anything else and is the closest thing to a feeling magic I’ve ever experienced.

I have recollections as a child playing outside in the long summer evenings. I remember the glow of light and the special feeling I got from it. But I would have forgotten were it not for my pursuit of photography. As a landscape photographer I recognize and appreciate the quality of light. At times like this it can be other worldly.

Anyway, I get carried away and take dozens and dozens of photos. Sometimes many of them are great, but then the problem is I have a million great photos of the exact same thing. Its like money in the bank I suppose, store them away for a rainy day.

sunsets in the gallery

But then around here, rainy days mean more good sunsets to follow.

July 28, 2016

Skyway Rainbow

A couple of weeks ago after some afternoon rain I drove up to Fort DeSoto Park to take photos. As I looked back I noticed this rainbow over the bridge. From where I stood it appeared to span about 8 miles from one side of the Sunshine Skyway to the other. To get this photo I took four vertical images, from left to right and stitched them together to form a panorama.

I have mixed feelings about this image. On the one hand the placement of the rainbow over the bridge is nice and if you look close there’s even a double rainbow. If I didn’t know better I might think it was photoshopped. On the other hand the scene lacks drama. That aside I decided to keep it as is, an image of a rainbow over the bridge without much drama.

other skyway photos from the gallery

With some images I take a lot of pains to simplify them in post production. I feel it’s important to not have distractions in an image. This one however needed none of that, just water, sky, bridge and a rainbow. Sometimes images like this just demand to left alone because they have a voice all their own. In this case I suppose I have to agree with that.

July 20, 2016July 20, 2016

Waves and Sunsets

This is a typical scene from the South Jetty in Venice Florida. People showing up to watch the sun go down is a Florida pastime. It’s a natural thing to do especially if you come visit from somewhere else. Most people in Florida are from somewhere else, even if they live here. Florida is one of those places where people are migrating to.

As for myself, I was born and raised in California. It used to be that everyone relocated to California from somewhere else. I was born there and relocated in the other direction. But California is a beautiful state to visit, I love going back and as a photographer I see so much more than I did growing up.

sunset photos

Other than the sound of the waves and the sunsets there is not much resemblance between California and Florida, they both have their own unique beauty. But waves and sunsets are a good thing to have in common.

July 10, 2016

Eldred Rock Lighthouse

The Eldred Rock Lighthouse is somewhere outside of Skagway Alaska. On our cruise I spent a lot of time on the balcony just watching the scenery and taking pictures of peaks and land features. For this I used a Sony 70-400mm G fully extended and mounted on a tripod. Thanks to image stabilization this was possible despite the vibrations of the ship.

One of the best things we did was to bring a set of binoculars which helped in a couple of ways. First we could see things along the shore up close, but perhaps more important, they helped provide a sense of scale. In Alaska everything is so large you easily loose all sense of perspective. The landscape tricks you into thinking things are not so large on account of the immense spaces. Upon closer examination with the binoculars the impossible size of slopes, cliffs, waterfalls and peaks become apparent.

favorite photos from the gallery

Like anyone else I’ve seen Alaska in pictures and television yet was still surprised at what I saw. Images will never do justice to Alaska’s landscape. Nevertheless it’s still fun to take them if for no other reason than to remind myself of the experience.

June 27, 2016

Water Pier Cloud

This is the pier in Venice Florida on a cloudy afternoon. It’s the best pier around so when I come here I shoot it from as many angles. In most cases I have the pier pointing out to sea from the left or right of the frame. In this case I’ve take a more direct angle by having it bisect the water and clouds. This is an angle I like very much, especially when shot with a telephoto lens. As you can see I’m not exactly head on, rather I’m on the beach angling out, but the perspective of the telephoto lens has it appearing rather flat.

Piers and bridges are a major source of inspiration for me. I have no idea why that is. Maybe it’s because they are objects that interact with bodies of water. If I lived in the mountains I’d be shooting waterfalls and lakes but in Florida it’s rivers, ponds and seasides.

Images from Venice Florida

The final toning of this image was created with a Trey Ratcliff Lightroom preset called “She Finally Awoke”. I’m a big fan of Trey’s presets which I use for inspiration when starting an image. But in this case I used it when finishing and I didn’t change the preset one bit. That’s unusual for me but in this case it worked exactly the way I wanted it to. Anyway, that’s a little behind the scenes info on some of the aspects of how I created the image. There is a lot more but for now that’s the short version.

June 19, 2016

Lost in Reverie

This is the Sunshine Skyway Bridge as it leads into Tampa Bay from the Gulf of Mexico. I was standing in my hometown of Palmetto about six miles away when I took this. I used a tripod to steady it since it was dusk and the light was fairly dim. The final image is composed of several parts combined into one. It’s an artistic rendering of the bridge as I imagine it. I do a lot of that with my photography, especially as I visit sites and scenes I’ve shot many times before. You might think I get bored from going to the same places time after time. On the contrary, it’s just the opposite; it fuels a desire to become more creative which in turn opens up all kinds of possibilities.

At times I take pictures just for the raw material of a creative rendering such as this. When I sit down to create the image I use a lot of different tools in the same way a painter uses a brush and pigments. I can spend hours on an project, working away hour after hour lost in creative reverie. Then at some point, I run into a wall and put it aside. Then when I look at it later I may start up again. And so it goes until I’m done.

more unusual images from the gallery

On the one hand I’m never really done with an image like this yet on the other I have to draw a line somewhere. It can be hard to let go sometimes. I’ve walked away from this image several times only to come back and have another go at it. But for now this is it, I’ve drawn the line and I’m off to my next project.

June 16, 2016

Colors of Venice

With a title like that you’d think I was referring to the town in Italy. On the contrary this namesake town in central Florida has its own colors painted in the sky. Sometimes I’ll head down here if we’ve had rain showers since that’s usually followed by a sunset. This day was no exception and I’m glad I made the effort.

I’ve posted different versions of this pier, but the sky ensures each one is unique. Landscape photography in Florida usually has the sky play a major role. At times my photos are tied to the whims of the weather. I know that sounds strange but I think there’s more than a grain of truth to it.

check out my Instagram feed

Even if I go out and the clouds are not cooperating I still end up walking the beach. I have little to lose and everything to gain chasing clouds for a good shot. That reminds me of storm chasers, I’m kind of like that although I’m more of a sunset chaser. Much less risk and stress involved.

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.