Photo Story
Art in the Park in Saint Petersburg Florida features artists like this glass blower on Saturday mornings.
During a recent photography lesson, I finally had the occasion to check out Art in the Park in downtown Saint Petersburg. This is where I came across the above glass blower practicing his craft. I have always been interested in such old world artisanship. Having no such skills myself only adds to the mystery of how one can possibly create glass objects.
Christmas light tunnel in downtown Saint Petersburg leads to Santa's lap!
Christmas in a warm weather place might be hard to make sense of. I know to people who live in cold winter places it must be unimaginable to wear a t-shirt or go to the beach on Christmas Day, but I have done both. It was a very balmy night in west central Florida this evening.
It is my goal to put up a series of photographs that tell what it's like to spend Christmas and the holiday season in Florida, a warm winter place. Maybe I can photograph Santa wearing shorts?
No ice in Florida, however we do have glice!
For now I present a skating rink of glice. From afar one might be convinced it was a true ice skating rink. The sounds coming from the bladed feet of the skaters really did sound like shearing along on ice. If I had any two point moving balance, I may have tried it out myself, but my balancing ability is limited to single objects (skimboards, skateboards) only.
Glice is definitely the kind of word that sticks in your head. Maybe because I'm trying to figure out what the "gl" part stands for....glice is half ice and half . . . . ? Glue? Let me know what you think it stands for in the comments below. If you live in a warm winter place, let us know how you simulate cold weather holiday traditions.
With this shot I was trying for a repeated pattern image.It had been a long time since I just went out shooting for myself. Not for a client, not for the HDR gallery project I am participating in, just for me and it was 20 minutes of pure escape. Now you may be looking at these shots and thinking, "dude, this is what you photograph with your rare free time to shoot on your own?" Well, I had seen this particular alley months ago and made a strong mental note to photograph it. Something about the idea of photographing this alley long had me excited.
So today with my Nikon D300 and Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro F2.8G lens I made the time to do some exploratory photography, as I like to call it. No doubt I looked mental to any passersby as I stepped in and around trash pointing a camera of not insignificant size at relative junk and decay. If they could only read my mind they would have known I couldn't have been more stoked. I was full of the thrill of potential discovery. Who knows what I might find here in this alley? That unknown always gets my heightened interest.
I dream of doing acrobatics on a fire escape, often.
In reality, the alley was not filled with many hidden treasures, but it was graced with a high concentration of human waste, in multiple states of matter. One thing that attracts me to alleys is the behind the scenes nature of them. On the other side of the buildings are the facades, what the masses idle to and before. On the flip side of those buildings, the real side, is where people live and die. Workers toil and nothing ever gets polished. I have no interest in facades.
The bicycle, an elemental mode of transportation.
The above bicycle was the object of greatest monetary value in the alley. While locked up, like any sentient being, does a bicycle too dream of Freedom--greatest of all things in the known Universe, far greater than Love.
A questionable means of security.For myself, I felt great Freedom making photographs in this alley. There are more mysteries there still, like what is behind this rusted padlock? I'd rather never know because a well-fueled imagination is the only thing that helps keep me sane as the forces that attempt to limit mine own Freedom reach for me.
American carnival experiences still live in Snell Isle Florida
To my surprise, only a five minute walk from where I live, a small carnival suddenly sprung up. Like most children, I loved carnivals and everything about them from the unusual rides to the games to the cotton candy too of course!
This photo was made using my Nikon D300 with Nikkor 50mm 1.8D lens while walking up the stairs to the tall burlap bag wavy slide ride. Yes, I was able to slide down at great speed and still keep my kit safe.
When going on the standing centrifugal force ride, however, I laid the D300 down behind the scenes of the ride with the blessing of the entertaining ride operator. He spoke of how he wanted to visit Japan some day.
The basketball game pictured next to the ferris wheel got $5 of my money. For sure on my third shot I thought it was money, but it only clanged off the front of the rim. Long, long ago I spent nearly $50 trying to win at the same game at a different carnival!
No doubt nothing more mysterious and exciting can come to one's own backyard than a carnival. Overnight an amusement park can replace a little used soccer field. These thoughts bounce through my head: who dreamed up these kinds of rides? when were they last inspected for safety? do I like the sense of danger of possibly hastily assembled rides? and I sure hope they have funnel cake!
Weeki Wachee River HDR Sunset in Hernando County, Florida
We visited old friend Margo at her home in Weeki Wachee yesterday. Despite heavy rain on the Howard Franklin bridge through to the Veterans Expressway interchange, then heavy traffic into Pasco County, we arrived in plenty of time to capture what sunset there was.
I was standing on a floating dock to make this image, and was unsure if I could get any kind of sharpness at all in the 5-bracket HDR image I wanted to make.
This is an extremely peaceful place with many very affordable properties right on the Weeki Wachee River. The day after the above image was made we rented a flat bottom boat and went up river passing no manatees, unfortunately, but we did get a brief visit from an otter. I will return to this area soon to photograph a great bayou.
The best place to buy souvenirs in Tokyo is Asakusa
I would guess the number of foreign tourists and residents that visit Asakusa is near 100%. One can find souvenirs and gifts covering the full range of Japanese culture from paper fans, to lacquerware, to katana, to real kimonos. If you are a foreign resident of Tokyo, if you have any Japanese friends, one of the first places they will take you is Asakusa. Likewise, if you are a longtime foreign resident of Tokyo and you have friends or family visit you from abroad, no doubt you will in turn take them to Asakusa. This is how it worked for me.
If you job is selling cotton candy at parades, how can you not smile?
When I lived in Japan I was often asked what my favorite food was. I always answered straight-faced: watagashi -- which is the Japanese word for cotton candy. I was only half joking. It is definitely my favorite candy. I like the texture, a texture truly fitting its name. I also like the texture when you squish and roll up a wisp of cotton candy, which makes it hard and almost crunchy.
I photographed this cotton candy vendor while waiting for a parade to begin in downtown St. Petersburg. I was surprised to draw his attention from across the street as I photographed him using my Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8 D lens at the full 200mm length. Him looking into the lens and smiling I think greatly improves what otherwise would have been an anonymous street photography shot.
Cotton candy is a ludicrous $500 ($5) in Tokyo. I was disappointed to see that it is still expensive ($3) even in the U.S. However, no matter what the price, this time, like most times, I could not stop myself from buying a bag. I prefer pink over blue in case you ever wanted to ever surprise me with some.