Mahaffey Theater

Vinoy Renaissance Hotel Mahaffey Theater The Pier St Petersburg Landmarks at twilight

Vinoy Renaissance Hotel east view - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 3-exposure HDR handheld

Through my DSLR Photography teaching I am often out with students around various St. Petersburg landmarks.  Each of the three photographs in this post were made on different days while out on a lesson in the evening time.  

The HDR image above is of the Vinoy Renaissance Hotel & Resort looking at it from the east along 5th Ave North.  At this time the setting sun was sidelighting the hotel and the tall palm trees in front of it.  The lighting is what made me stop and suggest to the student I was with that she photograph it from this angle.  I made my own shot of the hotel.  I knew HDR would produce the best results so even though I did not have my tripod with me I steadied my shooting position and fired off a 3-bracket exposure.  

Mahaffey Theater east view - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mountedThe Mahaffey Theater was not the primary subject matter during this particular photography lesson, the new Dali Museum was, but I had always liked the architecture of the Mahaffey even when it had this area all to itself.  The sky was a fantastic purple that evening.  

The Pier at twilight south view - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D @ f/8 ISO 200 1/80th handheldThe Pier is by far the most well known landmark of St. Petersburg, and perhaps the one with the least amount of life left as three new designs to replace the inverted pyramid have just been finalized by the city.  This landmark is most often photographed from the north and west, so I was glad to have a unique chance to photograph it from the south from a restricted access point at a marina I was able to get access to thanks to the photography student's mom having a boat docked there.  

Mahaffey Theater to Marina St. Petersburg Waterfront Panorama Florida

Click to see 2500px wide version - Mahaffey Theater on the left St. Petersburg downtown center - image available for fine art print & commercial license, call today! 813-240-5357

  • This panorama photograph available for fine art print & commercial license, inquire today! 

I am spending more time at the new Dali Museum and discovering the very different views of the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront it offers.  The above panorama photograph was made from a parking lot across from the museum at twilight.  Here I detailed my process for creating such panoramas. 

From this vantage point The Pier does not dominate the waterfront, and can only barely be seen behind the sailboat masts toward the right of the photo.  Instead, the Mahaffey Theater is the most prominent structure.  There is also a gradual light falloff from left to right instead of the harsher light falloffs when photographing directly into the sun.  I look forward to returning to this location to find more panorama photograph opportunities.