Me and Kiki huddling in the shade in the middle of the Jay B Starkey Wilderness Park desert - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/100th self-timer camera on groundSeeking a desert, Kiki and I returned to Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park which has long trails made up of sandy fire roads with little tree cover.  Why seek a desert?  Because yesterday I heard America's "Horse With No Name" and it became the theme for today's outdoors adventure.  There were other reasons for seeking a desert too, but those are more omnipresent and need not be singled out.  Our first visit to this park was back in November of 2009, and based on the lead image of that post and the one below, you can see how my HDR technique has improved in the past three years (no more ghosting!).  

Most of the 3-mile Loop Trail of Jay B Starkey Wilderness Park is desolate - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 3-exposure HDR handheldWandering for 5-miles (including the beginning 1.9 mile loop) in mostly desert trails with the strong Florida sun beating down on you may not sound that appealing, but it is exceptionally good for producing clarity of mind, if not clarity of photographs.  I cannot speak for Kiki, but the desolate trails provided exactly the environment I wished to be in.  We saw not a single human our entire time out there.  If you do not count the countless ants and flying insects, and the two birds' shadows I saw fly by (I did not use the energy to lift my head toward the sun to see them), then the only creature we encountered was a friendly gopher tortoise, who kindly yielded the right-of-way to us.  I am fascinated by the mechanical movement of tortoises and how they can withdraw from the world anywhere they want to.  I did not stop to photograph him, because in the desert you risk forgetting even your own name.  Indeed we took refuge for awhile at the max point out in the desert under a very well placed roofed picnic table (top image).  Kiki dug a hole to cool off in as I took a few photos.  Once she had sufficiently ceased panting, we continued on, though I know shade break or not, we were good for more miles.

I did not touch this tree - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 3-exposure HDR handheldOnce back in the corral area, I chomped on a few crackers and Kiki a dog biscuit, and we both took water.  Just as we arrived back I noticed off to the side a very peculiar tree.  I saw none in such condition anywhere else in the park, not even in the middle of the desert trail where one would think such a tree would be found.  This scary tree was right next to the campground (see blue tent).  I would not want to get the campsite within eyeshot of it.

It was a good visit to Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park and if you do go make sure it is as early as possible to avoid the hot Florida sun, bring lots of water as there is none on site for humans and prepare to cross a desert.

J.B. Starkey Wilderness Park:

• 10500 Wilderness Park Boulevard
  New Port Richey, FL 34655
  
• hours sunrise to sunset
• dogs ok!
• camping - car, primitive & backcountry

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Lance Armstrong crossing the finish line of Ironman Florida 70.3 Haines City 2012 - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/250th shutter priorityI woke up at 4:45am Sunday morning to get ready to make the drive out to Haines City, a small, inland town I had never heard of before to photograph the Ironman 70.3 Florida.  I drove east on I-4 into a totally dark sky that as the miles past began to reveal dawn light.  It made me realize what a great time of day this is to be out on the open road.  As I got off the highway it was still before sunrise and I was treated to views of horses grazing in misty fields.

My road location for photographing Lance Armstrong on the bike route - photo made with an iPhone 4Then finally as I turned onto the road that would be my shooting location for the next three and a half hours I saw the sun peak over the horizon for the first time.  It was a beautiful and peaceful scene that I really appreciated.  Soon though I would get very busy photographing the nearly 2,000 participants of the triathlon on the bike portion of the event.  There was a bit of glamour to this triathlon as Lance Armstrong was competing in it and the favorite to win.  Neither I nor my shooting partner could recognize Lance in the initial group of riders coming down the road.  Then once the main wave of competitors starting rolling by there was not much time to even think, just photograph as many of the passing riders as possible.  Not so glamorous.

Ironman 70.3 Florida finish line just crowded with people waiting for Lance to finish.My assignment was to wait at that location until the very last rider came by.  That poor final rider was probably at least 10 minutes behind the second to last rider and did not look like he would close that ground over the remaining 45 miles!  So off I was to my next assignment near the finish line.  Totally unexpectedly to me I arrived before the winner did and since I was between assignments, I was able to take a few of my own photographs of Lance.  I had an all-access media pass on that allowed me to waltz right up to the first row of other media (TV & newspaper) waiting for Lance to cross the finish line.  The glamour of it all was back!  

The crowd was very amped up as Lance rounded the corner and he high-fived many outstretched hands.  I filled my D300's buffer just holding down the shutter trying to get the best possible shot of Lance in a very crowded area of cameras.

Lance Armstrong after winning the Ironman 70.3 Florida 2012 in Haines CityLance walked right past me!  But then he was swarmed by a crowd of people hoping for an interview.  All I could do was hold my camera up over my head and hope to get lucky.  Well, I got an infocus shot, but only of the back and side of his head.  Then Lance was gone and so was the finish line crowd as well as any and all glamour.

My next assignment was to shoot the "front of finish" shot which was in direct late morning and afternoon sunlight.  In those 3.5 hours the top of my kneecaps got sunburned as I sat in my small folding chair.  Not glamorous at all!  As my own finish time of 2pm approached, I was definitely fading.  Taking the same shot, over and over times about 1500x in direct Florida sunlight is a real challenge.  That is what photographing a triathlon in Florida is mostly about, surviving and trying to be consistent with your shots.  I believe this will be the last triathlon I ever photograph as the cost-benefit ratio is just not in the photographer's favor.  The money is actually not good at all considering the large wear and tear one puts on their shutter (anywhere from 3,000 to 4,500 actuations depending on the event) and the physical toll it takes on everything in general.  Photographing Lance is a good way to end my triathlon photography career.

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Super Moon or Perigree Moon May 5, 2012 over Smacks Bayou St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 5-exposure HDR mounted on Induro CT214 tripod with cable releaseWhat is sure to be one of the most photographed subjects of the year is the so-called Super Moon or Perigree Moon that rose in the twilight sky tonight on May 5, 2012.  Luckily for me I had a good vantage point of the Super Moon right from my back patio allowing me to make the HDR image above.  I chose to center the moon between two palm trees.  Uncharacteristically, I did not try any other compositions, so I hope I wake up tomorrow still liking how I framed this shot and not regretting trying a simpler framing!

Did you photograph the super moon tonight?  

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Vivid family sunset beach portraits on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/250th Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightIt was great to see the Martineau Family again, who I first photographed back in the summer of 2010.  They were once again visiting from Pennsylvania with their three children.  We met at the same beach on Treasure Island, Sunset Beach, my favorite beach in all of Florida.  This is a great place for family beach portraits, and also skimboarding!

Pulling light from the sky long after the sun went down - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 640 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 to left & SB-600 to rightI was looking forward to seeing how much the children had grown in the past two years.  The most noticable growth was of course with their youngest, and the fact that he could now talk and his favorite words appear to be "alligator golf."

Cartwheel sunset beach skills! - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightBeing a Thursday evening in late April Sunset Beach was mostly free of tourists and locals as well so we pretty much had the entire half-mile strip of beach to ourselves.  The only passersby were some water birds.

Family running on the beach having fun - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 500 1/500th natural lightLast time we made a very similar shot to the one above with the family running and laughing down the shoreline.  The biggest difrerence this year was that it was a cloudless sky, whereas two years ago a storm was just upon to fall on the beach providing a dramatic cloudy sky for a background.

Siblings having fun on the beach - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/80th Strobist: SB-800 to left & SB-600 to rightThe cloudless sky helped me be able to make shots well after the sun went below the horizon and still pull some color out of the twilight sky.

Family beach portrait watching the sunset - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/100th Strobist: SB-800 to left SB-600 to rightI was very glad to be able to continue to be the Martineaus family photographer on their Florida visits and I look forward to their next visit!

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