Photo Story

Epic Aerial Portraits in Downtown Tampa Part 1 -- yours truly

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Photo by Vadim - Nikon D700 Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 - yours truly pulling a trademark Liu Kang aerialWhen a trio of friends gets together who have not all seen each other in awhile, and they happen to be photographers, hardcore portraits can, and in this case, did, ensue.  I met my boys Vadim and Pedro in front of the Tampa Theater.  We started out semi-tame, just a 2-strobe setup in front of some huge spiral modern art with each of us straddling a small fountain waterfall.  However, at Vadim's urging we soon packed away the lights and we all decided to take to the air!  This is nothing new for me.  I pulled a Liu Kang air (photo) (update see below!) over a huge gap in a cliffside in Mesa Verde National Park back in 2000, something I called the "Leap of Faith."  So doing an epic drop (unverified) from a skyscraper as seen above was only my latest epic aerial.  

Photo by Vadim - Nikon D700 Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 - yours truly pulling a Jackie Chan parkour move for a shotGood photographers can get shots anywhere.  Luckily Vadim was with us and spotted this alley behind a restaurant and said we should try it out.  I immediately suggested I could do parkour off the wall for some shots.  Vadim got who knows how dirty to get this creative angle.  Pedro was getting dirty too on the ground between the trash can and the dumpster.  Me?  Well, you know my disdain for getting myself into a state of disrepair.  

Photo by Pedro - Nikon D300 Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 - yours truly using The MatrixOne may point out that all these jumps were done while holding my not so inexpensive camera (not to mention lens) in my hand.  That's what makes things real.  Everyone jumped with his gear.  We wanted to get some different (and in my case hardcore) photographer's headshots.  I think we succeeded in that.  

Next up will be the shots I took of Vadim and Pedro! 

UPDATE:

Mese Verder National Park -- Digital Photograph by unknown circa 2000 model, possibly a Sony, owned by traveling friend Steve. - yours truly making the "Leap of Faith"This is my original Liu Kang style jump from March of 2000.  I met two guys in Mesa Verde Park and we explored the place and jumped off of everything we could find.  The photo taken by Steve was with perhaps one of the very first consumer digital cameras.  It might have been a Sony.  I think it was just a 1 megapixel camera.  The original file was only 640x480 as memory cards had very small capacities back then and were super expensive.  Digital photography really has advanced in just 10 years.  Read more about this awesome day and see more epic feats:  Mesa Verde 2000 Adventure 

A pelican hiding inside of a pelican

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brown pelican (female) - Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/4 ISO 800 1/400thPelicans are very malleable birds.  Though they may not be very beautiful or majestic, I think if I had to live life as a bird I might choose to be a pelican just for how many different ways they can fly, swim and rest in.  One of my long term photography goals is to photograph a pelican at near eye level as it just skims over the surface of the water.  In the meantime, I still find pelicans in new positions I have not seen before.  

The above female brown pelican had her neck turned 180 degrees with her beak resting between her wings in a homemade feather pillow.  Using my Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ 200mm I did not disturb her at all to make this photograph, but I cannot tell for sure if she was sleeping with one eye open or not.  

I wondered what she was dreaming about.

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.