Sunny Florida at f/11 project #05 - Algiers Beach Sanibel Island

Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 5-bracket HDR (handheld, breaking rules yet again)

Sanibel Island has a number of dog friendly beaches, the above Algiers Beach being one of them.  So after nearly two hours of running and swimming and skimboarding with Kiki, I just plopped down on this soft grass growing at the far edge of the beach with my Nikon D300 and relaxed a bit, and of course also made this HDR photograph to continue my summer long Sunny Florida f/11 project.  Shooting while lying on my stomach on the ground is one of my favorites ways to shoot, and one of my favorite perspectives to shoot from.  First, it is really comfortable because you are lying down.  Second, you can hold your camera really steadily with both elbows planted on the ground.  Third, not many people are willing to get down and dirty like this so you can come away with a unique view of an often photographed place/scene/subject.  

I left some of the highlights blown out on purpose as I thought it added a bit of style to the shot.  Coincidentally, Scott Bourne wrote a blog post yesterday about it being ok to blow out highlights if it is something you wanted to do in your shot.  I will admit it made me feel better about doing so, as traditionally you can get criticized for blowing out highlights.  

I am still not finding the shot I had long envisioned for this series.  I will not describe that vision here, as I will continue to look for it myself, holding out hope that such a scene even exists in Florida.  My Florida imagination may have become too infused with Thai beach memories.

INFORMATION ABOUT ALGIERS BEACH: 

• Algiers Lane, Sanibel, Florida 
• 239-472-6477
• dog friendly means dogs must remain on a leash 

Snell Isle Series - 001 - "Eyebrow Cloud Sunset HDR"

Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 9-bracket HDRThough I live in one of the nicer areas of St. Petersburg, I have photographed it very little in the 14 months I have lived here.  So this gave me an idea for another photography series simply titled Snell Isle Series.  The photographs I have made, like the one above, have mostly been from the area behind my back patio.  In fact I have made similar shots to this one in the past (a, b, c).

So now I plan on taking more than ten steps to photograph Snell Isle.  I am looking forward to going to this personal photography project taking me to local areas I might never visit otherwise.  I may even do a lot of shooting by bike as I can be more mobile that way and less hesitant to stop the car to get a shot, I can just hop out of the saddle.  

From May through July the sunsets over Smacks Bayou can be pretty outstanding.  I definitely feel lucky to be able to gaze upon them every evening, but then luck has little to do with it as I always try and choose a place to live that has a sunset view from it.  I last lived in Tokyo for six years before moving back to Florida, and in Tokyo I had exceptional views of the sunset over the western part of the city year round.  

I look forward to continuing this series and making it as diverse as possible.

Sunny Florida at f/11 project #04 - Fossil Lake Park

Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 3-bracket HDR handheld (breaking my own rules again!)Continuing what I have now determined will be a summer long project, the latest entry in my own personal photography project -- Sunny Florida at F/11 is an impromptu HDR shot of Fossil Lake Park.  I had heard of this park for a long time, and driven by it several times only glancing its baseball fields.  When I first heard that St. Petersburg had a "fossil park" I obviously thought it was something like the San Andreas Tar Pits, a place I imagine to have dinosaur bones just lying around in the open!  

However, there were no fossils or even bones of any kind, unfortunately.  I would not even think the park old enough to even begin decaying a banana peel, sadly.  

Still, disappointment at not being able to finally realize my boyhood dream of paleontology work aside, it was a surprisingly nice park for what it is, a small oasis in the middle of a not so green area of central St. Petersburg.  There was decent wildlife with strange ducks, turtles and bluejays among other creatures.  Basically, it's a decent place for a 15 minutes or so stroll.

Focus on someone unique

Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/4 ISO 200 1/800th strobist: SB-600 off camera to left on light stand 1/2 powerWhen I photograph a wedding, an event or sometimes even a multi-person candid portrait session, someone in particular usually catches my eye.  This person often times is just a guest or not the focus of the event.  However, I make them a focus because I like their look or personality, or both.  Why do I do this?  Because I am always looking for a shoot within a shoot.  Just because I was hired to deliver a certain type of photograph(s), does not mean the client may not also be pleased with something else. 

I read about a photographer earlier today on the Nikon Learn & Explore app for iPhone (cannot name him because lost his page due to poor app build, iPhone flaw, or who knows, it's a frustrating device to me) who quit commercial photography because for that type of job a great client is required to make a great photograph.  He would be given an assignment, but in the field realize that it would not work and then would come up with something on his own.  

He also never planned what he was going out to shoot for his own personal shooting, the opposite of what you usually here photography instructors say to do.  I have even advised my own students to go out with a focus for each shoot, although I, myself, do not always follow my own advice.

Back to why I focus on a particular person over the course of an event or wedding . . . it also adds an extra element of fun for me, almost kind of a game.  For a New Year's Eve shoot I photographed the same woman four times, to her surprise, over the course of two hours.  She could not believe I was able to sneak in and get a shot of her again without her noticing.  Made her and I smile each time.  This broke up the routine of trying to photograph each and every guest in attendance.  It added a bit of a game for me to play, a shoot within a shoot.

The woman in the above photograph was the sister of the groom.  I was immediately drawn to her because of her cool hairstyle.  She was also a little shy which only encourages me to try and photograph a person more!  She got extra volume in her curls for this shot because the wind was blowing behind her.  

The bride was still not ready, so there was extra time for this type of fun shot that put me in an even better mood and no doubt helped me be a better photographer for the actual photographs I was hired to take.

Florida Beach Sunset & Twilight Wedding Children

Making time for the flower girls - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8 ISO 640 1/320th strobist: SB-600 off camera to left 1/2 power

I had the chance to be a second shooter for a wedding recently, which to me is one of the most fun gigs in photography.  Minimal pressure & responsibility, but maximum opportunity to get creative or at least unusual shots.  While the main photographer worked with the bride and groom, I was able to focus on the children in the wedding party during sunset and twilight.  I corralled the two flowers girls, who were frolicking on the shoreline, just long enough to make this sunset portrait.  The older flower girl just instinctively held the younger flower girl like that.  All I had to do was make sure my strobist setup was aligned correctly and try to get the horizon straight (whoops).  That is always a challenge as people standing up straight are almost never perpendicular to the horizon.  This time I chose a slightly crooked horizon in exchange for flower girls with perfect posture.

Representing multiple generations - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/320th strobist: SB-600 off camera to left full power

The woman above is holding her granddaughter.  I purposefully wanted to try my best to make as good a portrait of her as I could . . . because she told me earlier either another photographer or just someone told her that she did not look good in photographs.  That made me feel ill that someone would do that, especially if it was a photographer!  I made a point to prove that person wrong, which I think I was successful at with the above portrait.  I showed it to the woman right after saying, "see, you look great in this photo."  She thanked me and I could see in her eyes she was surprised herself.  It was a very satisfying feeling for me.  

I helped the woman get over her self doubt by having her hold her granddaughter for a portrait, much better than trying to make a good portrait of her on her own.  I am sure just holding her granddaughter puts her in a more relaxed, loving mood.  Add to that a beautiful Florida twilight sky, and boom, a photograph that will be valued by both photographer and subject.  

standing perilously on a jetty! Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/100th strobist: SB-600 off camera to left full powerThe above flower girl was obviously a very easy subject to make a great portrait from.  She was standing, rather balancing, on some jetties when I brought my light stand over to use the now inky twilight sky as a background against her white dress.  It was a rare opportunity for me to photograph a child so far after sunset.  Flower girls are usually drenched in sunlight in photographs, or under the lights of a church.  I wanted to add a sense of mystery to a flower girl portrait.  This shot and all the others would not be possible for me to take being the primary or lone wedding photographer for a sunset wedding.  I was glad to have the opportunity this time.

Psychedelic Medical Mannequins

Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/60th strobist: SB-600 off camera on counter to the right

I do not often play around with editing software filters much, but last week I found myself inside a Red Cross office building with my camera in hand and no supervision.  The mannequins pictured above were visible from the far end of a dark hallway and startled me at first.  My next thought was I want to photograph these things!  

I touched nothing.  There were in the exact positions you see above.  I looked around for a good place to put my SB-600 Speedlight on because I knew right away I wanted to bounce the light off one of the walls in this room to try and get an unusual lighting outcome.

Since this was just a photograph I took for fun, I then went through some of the filters I rarely ever use in Color Efex Pro 3, and settled on this one to portray a kind of psychedelic horror nightmare look.  I feel it kind of makes it look like a composite shot, like all three mannequins were photographed separately then combined into this one image.  

I think it is important to still have fun with one's photography from time to time as it is easy to get caught up in the business end of shooting.  Who knows, maybe some day a potential client will see this image and want their own portrait made like this!  

Here is the original image straight out of the camera:

original, no processing done

Grandmother's Kiss in Sepia

I would never have made this shot if not for attending a photography meeting

You never know where you will find photographic inspiration, but then sometimes, you do.  I attended a TAPPA (Tampa Area Professional Photographers) meeting late last year and the guest speaker for that night almost exclusively made square-shaped, burnt sepia portraits, on 3 foot x 3 foot canvas . . . for $3,000.  Though my skill level is not great enough to charge that much for a portrait session, I did learn a lot from that photographer that I can and have applied to my own photography business.  I am not ashamed to say that I have fallen in love with the burnt sepia look for portraits, and I do also crop in a more square-ish style now for some shots as well.  

Photographers inspire other photographers.

To make the portrait above it took my entire current skill set from shooting to processing.  Everything I have learned through intense self-study, through attending lectures by other photographers and even a free lighting workshop, I applied to this shot.  In light of all this, do I think it is perfect?  Not even close.  However, I am pleased from a personal level to know that I could not have made this shot this time last year.  As a photographer I first aim to please myself because I know know one has higher standards for my work than I do myself.  So if I am pleased with an image, I am pretty darn sure the client will be too. 

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