inspired photography with just enough perspective
This is the morning Tropicana Train crossing the river on the way to the plant. Bradenton is across the river and trains cross this river day and night to drop off fruit and load up orange juice to take all over North America. Whenever I travel and visit a grocery store, I like to look at the OJ container to see the “Made in Bradenton” label on the box. Don’t ask me why, kind of a silly thing I guess.
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If it’s not obvious, this is a picture of a cloud hanging over the water. I had to say that in case you were looking for some little object of interest like a person or boat. Sometimes I find myself in a situation where the main subject of the scene is simply a cloud. Actually that happens a lot where I live. The heat builds up in the vapor and transforms it into crazy shapes, usually over water. Add the light of dusk and you get a scene like this, if only for a few minutes. This is cloudscape photography. I just made that up. I wonder if that’s a word…? You heard it here first. 😀
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It’s been a while since I’ve been to the north jetty so yesterday evening I headed down here. It’s about 35 minutes from home along the gulf coast and every evening people flock here to watch the sunset. The minute I drove up a couple of dolphins swam by as they meandered about. These shells were deposited on the beach from recent storms; you could just scoop up a handful. The jetty connects the gulf to the intercostal waterway where most folks dock their boats. Evenings like this are a reprieve from the August sun as the breeze coming off the water is oh so nice. Somebody wake me up; on second thought, let me dream on.
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Yet another dazzling display in the sky above my home in Palmetto Florida. You must be getting tired of all my sunsets. However it’s that time of year when every night we get crazy colors in the sky and water. This evening I headed out to get a sunset shot but the sky appeared so flat I turned back home. From my living room I continued to watch the sky and only fifteen minutes later it started turning all crazy like this, so I jumped back in my car again and headed for the water. These high altitude clouds appear flat and featureless when the sun is up, but after it sets they turn into filigree wafts of color enough to turn many a head. They certainly had me running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
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This evening I debated whether I should venture out on account of the thunderstorms in the area. Optimism won out and I headed down this way. All the way I thought it would be a waste of a drive but I continued nonetheless. When I got out of the car there was thunder, lightning and light rain. I stuck through it and for about an hour the weather held off. This is a twenty-five second exposure I took about a half hour after sunset. Tonight the cloud colors were best when the sun was well below the horizon. I shot several of these until the rain started up again then drove home through the pouring rain. Chalk one up for optimism.
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Death, taxes and afternoon thunderstorms are among the few certainties of life. At least it is here in Florida during the summer. I think I would be more surprised if we didn’t get a storm in the afternoon. Like when I lived by the tracks then moved away and couldn’t sleep because there were no trains going by. Thunderstorms are a little like that. We ignore them. They make noise but we tune it out. But lucky for me I’m a photographer and I’m always on the lookout. I didn’t ignore this one. And now, I’ll lay back in bed and wait for the sound of the midnight train. Goodnight all.
Planting seagrass like this protects the beach from erosion of storms. Communities up and down the coast of Florida are always looking for ways to preserve the beaches. In some places they dredge up the sand from just beyond the shoreline and place it back on the beach. That’ll last for a couple years depending on the storms and then it needs to be done again. Plants are a natural approach, only they are usually used to protect only the entrance to the beach which usually involves some type of dunes like these.
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Here I’m sitting on a dock watching the sunrise last year. Everything was quiet and despite the effort to get up early, I was glad to be here. If I could only manage to wake up early a little more often. I love to stay under the covers too much. But then, maybe I’ll try again tomorrow.
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I shot this on a calm afternoon with a few wispy clouds above. I would have preferred a little more drama in the clouds but it wasn’t to be. This is only a few minutes away from my home, I cross this way several times a week. This bridge connects St Petersburg with Manatee County where I live. All ships coming in or out of Tampa Bay pass through here. Now they’re saying that at four hundred feet the bridge isn’t high enough. Its time to go buy a new bridge.
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In Bradenton FL we have a riverwalk. Little did I know a lot of other cities do as well. Before I moved here I’d never heard of a riverwalk, but if you think about it it makes sense. Everyone likes to hang out by the water; run, walk or just chill. I come here a lot and this time to take pictures of the sunrise. I think I’ve taken pictures of the whole riverwalk length yet somehow I always seem to find something new. Regardless, its close to my home and if I ever get tired of this riverwalk there are others close by.
