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March 29, 2016March 29, 2016

The Number Three

I’ve heard it said that three is a magic number. Well, it’s certainly the name of a tune sung by Blind Melon, but I’m not sure how magic that is. If you’re a little lost don’t feel bad, I had to look that last part up on Wikipedia. Even without looking something up I can reasonably say that three represents a lot of things. The periods in a hockey game, dimensions of space, and of course, the number of legs on a stool. Deeper words have rarely been written.

More images from Fort Desoto State Park

This is the kind of scenery you can find at Fort Desoto State Park in St Petersburg Florida. Its also an example of how I’ve developed a tendency to see scenes in letterbox vignettes, one at a time, all around me. In fact there were things to the right and left, but I imagined this one little vignette in my mind and so framed the shot. Sometimes I might need more and use a wide angle, but for this 50mm was enough to capture the image I wanted. Having a zoom lens really helps in this department.

This is also another view of the seawall that I posted a few days ago. It’s a thirty minute drive north of me and one reason I like to come here is that I can bring my dog. Much of the shoreline in central Florida is off limits to dogs but this being a state park its pet friendly. There is a dog beach and places like this where you can walk with your best friend. So here I am; me, my bud and my camera, just the three of us. Magic.

March 28, 2016March 28, 2016

Crossover

The sun is setting and I’m at the beach. I have exactly three minutes left to find one more composition. Those are some of the thoughts going through my mind at moments like this, it’s like a game and it can be a lot of frantic fun. Such was the case when I found myself behind some seagrass and a tree that created a kind of frame and just then these folks walked by. Click.

Checkout some more of my recent beach photography in the blog here

Framing an image is an important aspect of street photography. Find some interesting scene and wait for someone to walk through it. When people are in an image we tend to put ourselves into that scene whether we realize it or not. In this way artistic images have a way of pulling us out of ourselves.

My earlier landscapes almost never had people in them. Someone once pointed this out and I started to take notice. Now I’m not so concerned with finding landscapes without people, if I do great, but not required. So this resulted in a blending of my love of both street and landscape photography. Now when shooting landscapes I will often look for a frame and wait for someone to walk through it. In a long winded way this is the thinking that went into this image. It’s a crossover of sorts.

March 27, 2016

By the Numbers

My eye is always in the sky whenever I’m outside. I suppose that’s a side effect of being a landscape photographer. It’s my opinion that clouds are fifty percent of what makes an image interesting. That’s a generalization and there are exceptions to every rule, but ninety percent of the time, clouds are fifty percent of the picture; photography by the numbers.

More cloudscapes from the gallery

Of course I’m being a little facetious, art cannot be divided and multiplied. At least I don’t think so. But I think art gives inspiration to ideas like mathematical theories. It’s a side effect of how we work. We look at something abstract and try to make sense of it. We look at clouds and each see something different. I think abstractions give our subconscious an opportunity to communicate with our conscious selfs, only we don’t realize it so we call it “sub-conscious”, one of life’s little ironies.

Back to the math. In photography we have something called the rule of thirds. Dividing the subjects on boundaries of one-third makes and image more interesting, so they say. Some of my images, like this, are a little more extreme. I’ll call it my rule of tenths. One-tenth of stuff on the bottom and nine-tenths of abstract at the top. That way, my sub-conscious has more room. It’s just a theory mind you, but you never know, I could be on to something.

March 25, 2016

Handing Over the Reins

This is the cargo dock in Vancouver Harbour. I’m standing at Canada Place facing east towards Burnaby. Half of this photo is a painting of sorts. I’m not really a painter but all of the reflections are my own doing, an example of an idea I get and then working to bring it out. I do it for no other reason than I get a enjoyment from it. The waters of Vancouver Harbour are not nearly this glassy, but that doesn’t stop me from imagining what it would look like if they were.

More sunset photos from the gallery

This looks almost like a lake with fresh water. But then there would not be such big cargo docs. Mr. Rational says things don’t make sense and deconstructs the scene. However in the world of my imagination I get to mix things up a bit and play what-if scenarios.

In fact the waters of this bay are really clean, especially for a port with so much shipping. It’s not uncommon to see otters and seals swimming about. Compared to other port cities this is probably one of the cleanest. Maybe that’s where I got the idea from. I’ll take it up notch and make it appear like a lake. One thing is for sure, this is the only image like this you’ll see because it’s one part reality and one part dose of my imagination.

March 24, 2016March 24, 2016

One Foot in Another World

Other “paintography” images from the gallery

In fact the waters of this bay are really clean, especially for a port with so much shipping. It’s not uncommon to see otters and seals swimming about. Compared to other port cities this is probably one of the cleanest. Maybe that’s where I got the idea from. I’ll take it up notch and make it appear like a lake. One thing is for sure, this is the only image like this you’ll see because it has one foot in reality and one in my imagination.

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.

March 22, 2016

Going Nowhere

I don’t know about you but when I walk on the beach I’m not really going anywhere; just walking for walking sake. Maybe I pick a point at the turn of the coast or a pier off in the distance, but really, it’s just something to satisfy my sense of progress while the rest of my thoughts are allowed a little down time. Going nowhere in particular is good.

In the Bubble

In The Time Bubble at Château des Baux de Provence Click here to purchase a fine art print

Château des Baux de Provence is a medieval structure overlooking a valley of farms and vineyards. There is a lot to take in from the scenery to the village and all it contains. This is only halfway up the hill, the fortress and ancient armaments are further up on the left.

Click here for more landscape photos from the gallery

For whatever reason I had a lot of energy and limited time. I climbed past this and further up to the very highest tower of the castle ramparts. It was an amazing climb with some sections of the path resembling a ladder. A little winded and heated I was glad for the cool breeze at the very top. I could see for miles in all directions and took a bunch of photos. I then began the climb back down. As I entered the village about halfway down it was warm and people were walking around with ice cream cones. I almost stopped for one but continued down back to the car where my friends were patiently waiting.

There really is no such thing as time when I’m taking photos. It’s wonderful for me but maybe not so much if I’m with others. I suppose that’s true about most artistic pursuits. Time melts away and the moment is like a bubble. Fortunate for my friends the bubble popped and I showed up in just enough time for the next adventure.

March 18, 2016

Barcelona Sunrise

This sunrise view is from the roof of the Grand Hotel Central Barcelona. I found the hotel somewhat last minute on hotels.com. What caught my eye was the rooftop bar and infinity pool. It’s an amazing hotel located in the gothic quarter of the city within walking distance of nearly everything. For me the best part is this rooftop view in the morning. Later in the evening we would sit here with a plate of Tapas and glass of Sangria watching the lights of the city. Not a bad way to spend a few days.

More urban exploration from the gallery

I took this with the camera just above the water so that it takes up half of the frame. I’m not sure what that big building is, though everyone else in Barcelona surely does. That’s because there are only a few tall buildings in the city. If I recall this pool was on the 10th floor of the hotel. At that height you can see over most of the rooftops of Barcelona. So much of the population of the central city live in apartment buildings that are no higher than about eight floors. Of course that’s a lot of living space regardless.

When I walked around this part of town I was impressed by the eclectic combination of apartments mixed with gothic cathedrals mixed with shops mixed with dabs modern architecture here and there. Everything is close together in neighborhoods that feel distinctly local and reflect values of the residents. At least that was my impression looking at it as an outsider.

March 17, 2016March 17, 2016

December Sunset

I remember taking this because it was on my birthday last December. The conditions looked good and I thought, hey I can do whatever I want today so I headed out and caught this amazing display. Not a bad present.

Here are a few other sunset images from the gallery

We get these sunsets quite a bit, the trick is knowing when to show up. Of course there’s an app for that, it’s called Sky Fire at http://www.skyfireapp.com. Basically it looks at the atmospheric conditions near you and produces a probability of a good sunset or sunrise. I’ve used it once or twice and it works about seventy percent of the time. Close to home I’ve learned to read the sky but my own success rate is only about fifty percent. On the road it’s a good tool to have especial if you are not familiar with the conditions.

I like living near the water as its become a central theme in many of my landscape images. Most of our planet is covered in water and I think I heard or read somewhere that there is more water below the earths surface than all the oceans. That’s mind boggling if it’s true. Nonetheless water in an image is a strong element that resonates with me at some level. Maybe its because our bodies are mostly water and there is some elemental attraction. You never know.