Photo Story

Historic Round Lake Park St Petersburg Florida

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Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 handheld 3-bracket HDRWhen away from home and packing a lunch, it is always my preference to consume it outdoors.  Back in June I needed just such an outdoor spot for four lunches.  To my fortune Historic Round Lake Park, a hidden gem of St. Petersburg, Florida, was just a block and a half away.  The small park was all alone, so I was happy to befriend it along with the squirrels and birds.  The small round "lake" itself was not much of note so I did not even photograph it, choosing instead the grand Live Oak above whose shade I gladly sat in.

Royal Palm Trees -- handheld 3-bracket HDREven though I have beheld them for decades, Royal Palm Trees still hold an exoticness to me.  This triple cluster of Royal Palms in Historic Round Lake Park were of uncommon height.  It looked to me they were each racing each other to the sun.

Banyan Tree of Historic Round Lake Park -- handheld 3-bracket HDRNow that I think about it, for such a tiny park it is home to some magnificent trees.  Decorating the eastern half of the park is the expansive Banyan Tree seen above.  Like many other Banyan trees in the area, it has been defiled by fools seeking their name to be known of that as a defiler of nature.  I apologized to the tree for these slights.  Trees are very forgiving creatures.  

Visit the park yourself for lunch:


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Purple Sky View of Downtown St. Petersburg Florida

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Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm tripod mounted with cable release @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/5th secYesterday a large cold front passed through stealthily in the night.  The whole day following was blustery, chilled . . . and clear.  There is nothing like the time after a storm passes to get the clearest shots possible.  Despite having The Pier nearby that provides spectacular, panoramic views of the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront, I have almost never gone there to shoot on my own.  The majority of times I have been there at sunset time was while teaching a DSLR Photography Lesson, as was the case this time again.

Maybe I do not go so often because I have never owned a real tripod.  The railing surrounding the roof of The Pier is tall and an average tripod cannot see over it without extending its destabilizing center column.  The view is great, but to photograph it well requires a very good tripod.  

Maybe it's because I know The Pier is dying.  It should be a more exciting place, as basically the landmark of St. Petersburg.  Yet every time I have visited there it felt like a place out of the 50s, just a structure of nostalgia that is kept around just because of that.  

The city council has voted for a new structure to be built.  My first reaction was against such a decision, since I am a very nostalgic person, and I thought The Pier, as flawed as it might be, should be preserved and maybe just needs more love.  My second reaction was it would be really exciting to have more of a destination so far out into Tampa Bay just a short drive from my house.  My final reaction was, "oh, not even demolished until maybe 2014 at the earliest?"  That time frame is far too far in the future for me.

Snell Isle Series - 04 - Silk Floss Tree in full bloom

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Silk Floss Tree on Cordova Blvd Snell Isle - Nikon D300 5-bracket HDRThe Snell Isle Series continues with a very special tree that can be seen on Cordova Blvd.  I have been fascinated by this tree since I first saw it almost two years ago.  It is a Silk Floss Tree (Ceiba speciosa) and stands out because of its thorny, green trunk which gives it a distinct fairy tale look.  When it blooms, it looks like a giant cotton candy on a stick with its dense, pink flowers.  

Bees were swarming this Silk Floss Tree - Nikon D300 using pop-up flashThe tree has an eastern exposure, meaning sunset time is not good for photographing it.  So I woke up early and brought my HDR gear setup (Nikon D300, tripod, cable release) to catch the early morning light that just starts to pop up over the houses lining the street at 7:30am.  As I parked my car and was getting the tripod setup, I could hear an audible buzz.  There were power lines directly above, but I thought they cannot be under such a heavy load to buzz like that.  Well, the mystery was immediately cleared up when I walked up to the Silk Floss Tree.  Bees were all over the entire tree.  Every bee in a 5-mile radius must have been there, as it was 3+ bees to a flower (see above) and I was getting my tower buzzed as I stood there too, but I tried not to flinch.  An old woman passing by said she was on the other side of the street just to avoid the bees, but I felt no threat, they were in a nectar feeding frenzy, and I moved only cautiously and purposefully.

The Silk Floss Tree on Cordova has a great canopy - Nikon D300 5-bracket HDRThe property overall has immaculate and detailed landscaping.  The owner is a kindly elderly man who I have never spoken directly to, but waved at countless time as I drove by as he is always sitting out in the driveway, though sometimes napping!  He has been gone for awhile, and I wonder if he will return.  His absence makes the neighborhood feel significantly less warm to me.

Hug this! Nikon D300 5-bracket HDRThe Silk Floss Tree of Cordova really is the grand landmark of the area, way more so than the two-story multi-million dollar homes that are adjacent to it.  Every time I pass by, it gives me at least a second of wonder and fancy in my day.  I just hope its owner returns as well.

Melissa Anelli speaking on Harry Potter at USF

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Melissa Anelli speaking at USF on Harry Potter, November 2010After I finished reading the Deathly Hallows in 3-days of absolute seclusion (no people, no Internet, no outside), I immediately thought that Harry Potter was now the greatest genre franchise in existence.  For me from 2001 to 2007 the Harry Potter experience was so rich, so compelling, so intimate, that it became the genre franchise I held in most esteem.  It was nearly flawless with no missteps.  

Besides reading and rereading the books, in 2005 I started to listen to the Pottercast podcast, which opened up a whole other level of understanding and appreciation for Harry Potter.  After years of listening the hosts of Pottercast felt like friends due to their not only talking on Harry Potter, but their own lives, experiences, etc.  I had seen pictures of Melissa Anelli, so when I listened to her on the podcast I had some mental image of the person speaking.  However, it is really an unusual feeling to finally see someone in person after so many years of just listening to their voice.  Double that with my Pottercast experience being a one-way street, meaning I learned so much about Melissa and the other hosts from the podcast that you feel you kind of know them like a regular friend, except just one you never actually talk back to.  So when I went to hear Melissa speak at USF Tampa campus last night, I felt like I finally got a chance to see an old friend . . . who had no idea in the world who I was!

Anyway, Melissa is a great speaker.  The same personality she displays on Pottercast was exactly what I saw on stage.  Her voice sounded exactly the same, so I guess they have really good audio production on the podcast!  She must have given the same talk last night dozens if not hundreds of times, but she showed no hint of it giving the appearance of it being the first time she ever told those stories, which to me is the sign of a great speaker.  

Melissa records the cheers of Harry Potter fans using her Mac!For a Harry Potter fan, her talk was extremely interesting and fun.  I really did not know specifically how JK Rowling came to write the first Harry Potter book and especially not how lucky she was for it to get published.  It was great storytelling by Melissa.  

I did not bring my 80-200mm lens with me because that would mean bringing my backpack camera case and I wanted to travel light and try to be inconspicuous for a change.  I also did not get a seat very close up due to the horrid traffic driving from St. Petersburg to Tampa, so I kind of regret I was not able to get better photographs of the event.  Plus the stage itself was not lit much at all, darker than where the crowd was sitting, which is the opposite of how lighting usually is.  

This was the perfect way to get ready to see the Deathly Hallows movie on Friday.  Thanks very much Melissa for coming to Tampa and sharing your great Harry Potter stories and knowledge! 

War Veterans Memorial Park Pinellas County Florida

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At low tide War Veterans' Memorial Park has some shoreline to explore or wade in.Closing in on nearly two years of living in Pinellas County, Florida, I can still easily find great new county parks to visit.  One recent Saturday afternoon Kiki and I visited War Veteran's Memorial Park located right at the tip of Boca Ciega Bay.  The park is not overly large, but there are enough waterfront paths and shoreline areas for a leisurely hour-long walk.  The inland trails did not look that appealing, so a longer trek is available in the park, but the big attraction are the panoramic views of the water.  One pavilion in particular was out on its own small peninsula making it the single best outdoor family party spot I've seen in any area park.  

It took several attempts to get this tank shot in focus as Kiki was pulling hard wanting to get walking!

One does not expect to wander through the woods and see a tank, even in a war memorial park, but it was an interesting surprise to find.  Kiki had no such interest so I could not get that close of a look at it without feeling like I was pulling a 60-pound tank of my own.  

A huge equatorial sundial made of solid granite is the park's main attraction.The bay views and the tank, neither are intended to be the focal point of the park.  A huge granite sundial is.  I was really impressed by it for some reason.  It looked really solid, and strong, like it had a very important purpose.  Perhaps even resembling something from ancient times when answers were distinctly more analog and tangible than the digital ones of today.

This is a Pinellas County park I will definitely visit again due to its combination of the usual Florida nature offerings with a strong sense of history. 


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Steam shovel Digging on a Twilight Florida Beach

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Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 200 4s tripod mounted with cable releaseAs a child I had huge Tonka trucks made of metal that I played with in a large sandbox.  As I looked at the photo above, it reminded me that the first time I ever thought about having a job, I thought I wanted to operate a steam shovel.  It seemed like a really cool job, and still does!  During a recent DSLR photography lesson on what should have been a dead peaceful Sunset Beach, there was instead an incredible noise coming from the steam shovel and dump truck working into the early night repairing the erosion damage caused by a large storm a few days earlier.  

At first I thought what rotten luck to have that racket going on during a lesson.  However, it did give us a chance for a pretty unique photo opportunity.  Photographing the twilight sky from a beach in Florida is nothing rare, but having an active construction site in the foreground of that twilight sky is.  

Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 200 2s tripod mounted with cable releaseI wonder if the steam shovel operator felt uneasy having so much of the Gulf of Mexico to his/her back?  Did they have any irrational fear that they would slip back and sink into deep water?  Into the brine?  I did.  I guess I prefer to be a daylight, solid ground steam shovel operator.

Is the Sky the most beautiful thing about Earth?

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7:34pm - Sunset Beach, Florida - 5-bracket HDR image

I once heard someone say, "everything changes except the Sea."  It instantly entered my long term memory and comes to mind quite often.  On the other hand, does anything change more frequently than the sky?  Is this constant change one of the reasons why people (well, at least myself) love to behold the sky?  Is this the reason why the sky is so often photographed?  Or is the sky just the most beautiful thing about Earth?

Just 16 minutes earlier, the sky looked like this that evening . . .

7:18pm - Sunset Beach, Florida - 5-bracket HDR image