Photo Story

Sunny Florida at f/11 project #07 - Tampa Bay Panorama in Portrait Orientation

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click for larger version - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 6-shot panorama in portrait orientation (handheld)

I have taken my new interest and excitement over panorama images to the Sunny Florida f/11 project.  I have used the area in and around Vinoy Park for a majority of my f/11 project photos because I am simply in that area the most with my camera due to it being a prime spot I use for my DSLR Photography Lessons.  It also happens to be my favorite spot in all of St. Petersburg both for photography and just for the feeling of openness and Freedom I feel when I am there.  

For this shot I turned my Nikon D300 into portrait orientation instead of the usual landscape orientation used to make most panorama shots.  In my mind one cannot use portrait orientation enough as landscape orientation dominates so much.  So let's make that a mini-photography tip, use portrait orientation more than you currently do!

Florida's best natural feature for landscape photographs is its sky, in my opinion.  Florida from Tampa down is a pancake and there are few tall buildings.  Thus, many places have near 180 degree or greater wide open from the horizon to the stars views.  Throw in the subtropical weather patterns and that makes for dramatic skies on nearly a daily basis.  Then of course there are the fantastic sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico here on the west coast of Florida.  Therefore, since there are no mountains or other large natural features, I often look to the sky for making landscape shots.  What about you?

Kiki sandy with bokeh at Honeymoon Island State Park

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Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/4 ISO 200 1/1000th

As Kiki gets older, now almost 1.5 years old, I take less photographs of her, even though I wish I had taken even more when she was a small puppy.  I think in my mind I always thought she would shrink back to under 20 pounds, only to expand again to her current 62 pounds.  Apparently, this is not going to happen.  

She loves the beach and loves to swim.  She likes to chase me while I skimboard too.  After coming out of the water she will often do a nosedive right into the sand.  This is of course nonsensical to me and alarming, as I do not want her to scratch or irritate her eyes by driving sand into them.  The only thing that is not concerning about her sand faceplants is the comical covering of sand on her head that results.  She is nonplussed about it.

Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/4 ISO 200 1/2500th (all 3 same)I also feel Kiki shakes much more than other dogs.  Many times a day she shakes for no apparent reason inside our sand free home.  Of course at the beach she shakes every other minute.  

What kinds of unusual things does your dog do? 

St Petersburg Downtown Sky View Architecture & Panoramas

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Signature St Petersburg Condo skyscraper - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 5-bracket HDR (handheld)I had been thinking a lot the past few days how long it had been since I went out and just shot for fun, for myself.  Last week photography friend Wade suggested we join NPPF's meetup in downtown St. Petersburg.  I said sure, let's do it.  Then when one NPPF member said we can shoot from the top of the condo building he lives in, equivalent to the 28th floor, I thought wow, can get some new shots of an area I have photographed already almost every which way.  

Downtown St. Petersburg waterfront 6-shot panorama - click to view LARGEI had also been wanting to give Photoshop CS5's great Photomerge action another try, but one cannot just easily create a compelling panorama just anywhere.  However, an open wraparound viewing area twenty-eight stories up is certainly a compelling area.  

Nikon D300 with Tamron XR Di II 17-50mm f/2.8 lens @ f/11 ISO 200 5-bracket HDR (handheld)The rooftop we were on was adjacent to downtown St. Petersburg's newest skyline addition, Signature St. Petersburg, a very aggressive modern condo skyscraper that dominated our southern view, and thus received a lot of lens attention from myself and everyone else in the group.  I taught a DSLR Photography Lesson on architecture back in March using the skyscraper as a subject matter.

South of Downtown St. Petersburg 6-shot panorama - click to view LARGEI like having a high view.  For four years in Tokyo I lived on the 11th floor of a building with views of downtown Shinjuku and the sunset.  I liked being able to step out onto my balcony and survey all the land before me.  There is nothing quite like having a sweeping, bird's eye view.

Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro f/2.8G lens @ f/16 ISO 200This was the second time in a week of being high up in a condo with a view of downtown St. Petersburg after never being more than a few stories off the ground in a year and a half.  Beholding such a view is starting to feel contagious, although living so high up with a thirsty puppy needing half a dozen bathroom breaks a day would not be so convenient.  

Very Old School Tokyo Assassins

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Tokyo, Japan 2009 - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/2.8 ISO 640 1/2500th

There are mainly only two things about daily life in Tokyo that I miss, first of course is my beloved washlet, the second is the ability to do street photography from right out my front door.  Living in any big city offers lots of street photography chances, add to it the allure of Japanese culture and an indifference to photographers and Tokyo just might be the best city in the world for street photography, or photography of any kind.

I was on a photo walk on my very last day in country (after six years living there) with three friends walking from Shinjuku to Yoyogi Park.  We passed these guys in the middle somewhere.  Even though I was shooting something entirely different the moment before (if you can believe it horseback riders jumping gates!), I was able to change gears in time (as any good photographer must be able to) to photograph these guys as they got their bearings.

They were wearing trench coats and carrying weapons and suitcases.  I imagined them as some Rip Van Winkle type assassins from the Edo Period or something transported to modern day Tokyo and trying to continue their assassin profession with 500 year old technology.  Perhaps I was fortunate they did not spot me photographing them or I may have been added to their hit list.  

The weapons they are carrying . . . Japanese traditional archery bows and arrows.  

Sunny Florida at f/11 project #06 - St Petersburg Florida Harbor HDR

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Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens @ f/11 ISO 200 3-bracket handheld HDR

The sixth entry in my ongoing Sunny Florida f/11 project is an HDR image of the harbor in downtown St. Petersburg in front of The Pier.  Despite the harbor's small size dolphins and manatees regularly swim in it, and pelicans dive alone the seawall on a regular basis.  There is something I really like about this harbor myself that is ineffable.  The small cluster of trees on the left horizon is my favorite spot in the entire city which offers great views of Tampa Bay to the east and the downtown St. Petersburg skyline to the west.  Then in the gap between there and the park on the other side pass dolphins (photographed here) and manatee in water that can be fairly clear at times.  It is a position of power commanding viewership over the whole area.

The harbor does not provide infallible protection from storms though as these recent photographs of a jilted sailboat illustrate. 

"SAVE OUR GULF" seaweed protest at Pass-A-Grille Beach Florida

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BP protest sign made of seaweed on Pass-A-Grille Beach Florida

I was actually in the middle of photographing a wedding when I first noticed a raised mound of sand to my right with some words spelled out on it.  The bride and groom later walked past it allowing me to pause quickly (hence not getting the framing perfect) to make this photograph and finally read what it said:  

SAVE OUR GULF

The beaches of west-central Florida remain untainted by the BP oil spill due to I believe the direction of the currents in the Gulf.  Yet as I often have contact with beach side businesses like hotels and rental agencies via my beach wedding photography jobs, I have heard that despite our oil-free beaches here, business is down, especially for the hotels.  Thus, I can only imagine the hardships businesses that are actually on oil covered beaches must be experiencing right now.  A large portion of my photography livelihood is made on Pinellas County's beautiful sandy beaches.  If oil ever does make its way on shore here, myself, and all other beach photographers could take a hit.  Although I would be more worried about my local bird friends (as I wrote about here) and sea creature friends, as I can just shift my business more inland.  

My gut feeling is that BP does not want to permanently cap the well.  That it has and is still holding out hope to be able to cap it and still pump all the oil out of it and sell it despite the PR and stock price nightmare of the past 82 days.

Are there any protests to the BP oil spill on your local beaches or in your neighborhoods?  If so, please link to them in the comments.

Old Florida Trailer Black & White HDR

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Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 9-bracket HDR on tripod

Montana might be called Big Sky Country, but one could not be blamed for thinking it was Florida's.  Half the state is utterly flat with a lack of tall buildings.  I saw this old trailer just sitting along the edge of a wide open field.  The large puffy clouds with dark bellies are typical of a spring, summer or fall Florida afternoon sky.  Such skies are one of the most beautiful features of Florida.  The ability to stand out in the open and have a 180 degree view, from one edge of the horizon to the other, tells me I am back in Florida, and it is good.  No barriers to thought under such skies, day, and especially night.  Many places in Florida give you clean and direct access to the Universe.