Photo Story

Warm Pass-A-Grille Florida Winter Sunset HDR

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Pass-A-Grille Beach Florida sunset - Nikon D300 f/11 ISO 200 5-bracket HDRAs I sit here in shorts & a t-shirt with all the windows of my apartment open, and the ceiling fan on, let me extend a welcome to everyone who is perhaps suffering from a less palatable winter to visit the tranquil & warm Pass-A-Grille Beach at the very tip of St. Petersburg, Florida.  This beach is a great escape, with just the right mix of available entertainment and solitude.  Plus, how cool will it be to tell your friends & family you visited a place called "Pass-A-Grille?"

If you do visit this lovely place, please consider preserving your memories with professional beach photography.  I offer several candid portrait packages for families or individuals.  What would look better than a photo of you (and your family/friends) printed on a beautiful canvas gallery wrap hanging on your wall to remind you of Florida's warmth the next time a snow storm makes going outside just an impossible thought. 

Brick Walls of Ybor City Tampa

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Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/320th - Ybor City Tampa FloridaSeveral lifetimes ago I actually occasionally visited Ybor City by choice at night for a multi-month stretch.  I remember knowing of this "secret" location to park for free thinking it very clever.  As a lifelong non-drinker I did not go there for any particular liquid, but for concerts and even sometimes, if one can fathom it, to dance in rock clubs (Empire!).  I have long since retired from dancing, so this visit in broad daylight to Ybor City was to scout locations for an upcoming car photography gig.  This lead to a most unusual mini-set of photos with a brick wall theme.

Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/160th +1 ev - Ybor City Tampa Nobody noticed me hanging out behind this warehouse & "showroom."  You could feel the oldness of the place just standing next to it.  It was still functioning in some capacity though as you can see a truck picking up or dropping something off.  I stood there wondering, "is there really any glory in tagging a dumpster?"

Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/200th - Ybor City TampaAlong another road the brick walls of this building seemed to stretch the entire block.  No tags to be seen on its walls though, which I guess means whoever the owner is that person commands a lot of respect.  The white vehicle would be mine.  In this part of Ybor City the brick just goes on and on making one feel strongly confined, as if in a drivable prison.

CLICK PHOTO for LARGE version - 4-shot panorama - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/320th

There was a way out of all these walls . . . and you could even hop a train to the modernity of downtown Tampa!  One rumbled by me giving me a good scare just as I finished making this panorama shot.  

It was a pleasant reacquaintance with Ybor City this afternoon . . . 

Philosophy of observing or acting - Izu Japan Surfer

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Nikon D80 Nikkor AF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G with texture overlay of original image

  • Tutorial for how to make a textured overlay image at dPS

 

Observe or act?  One cannot do both.  If one has great surfing skills, would one ever set them aside for even one day to be a great surfing photographer?  The surfer above was by far the best surfer in the water the two days I spent at a beach on the Izu peninsula in Japan a few years back.  I have very limited surfing skills, so on that occasion I was content with only observing.  

I find myself wondering, why would one choose to only observe?  Is it entirely due to not being able to perform the act under observation?  Therefore . . . if one can, one does; if one cannot, one observes.  Is that a rigid truth?  

Perhaps one could categorize photography as a powerful act of observation.  If so, then maybe one can both act and observe.  I feel very strong instincts to observe as well as to act depending on the situation.  Perhaps then observation leads to action?  Certainly many people see photographs made via strong observation of a photographer that in turn inspire them to take action, and vice versa.  A strong act inspires observation and thus photography.  This seems to be yet another example of the duality of all existence.  

Wired to the Sky in Suidobashi Tokyo Japan

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Nikon D80 Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/320thThough I have never photographed in New York or London, I am still absolutely sure that Tokyo is one of the top five cities for photography in the world, if not the best.  So many factors contribute to how good a city is for photography that have nothing to do with photography itself, for example public transportation, safety, regulations restricting what can be photographed, etc.  Tokyo excels in all those areas with a great train system, an absolutely safe city to walk around with a thousand dollar+ DSLR at any time of night and no restrictions on what can be photographed.  Want to set up on a tripod in the train station, go ahead!

Then of course it has an incredibly rich source of photography subject matter.  Perhaps what I have written so far should be for another future post.  The photograph above was taken in the Suidobashi area of Tokyo, Japan.  It is a central part of Tokyo, more toward the older, traditional side of the metropolis.  There is an amusement park right in the middle of all the roads and buildings, surprisingly.

Using all 200m of reach I framed a mother and son in what looks like a converted airline food server tethered high above the sky in a series of elongated cables.  I thought it looked like a great way to see the city.  I never went up on the ride myself.  So that is a tip for any current Tokyo photographer who wants what will undoubtedly be a unique vantage point.

A fuller view of a most unusual sky carousel in the middle of Tokyo.

Permanently thinking . . .

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Nikon D80 Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8D @ f/2 ISO 800 1/100th

As myself, I do not often go over to other people's houses, being somewhat of a recluse.  However, as a photographer I find myself in places I would otherwise never venture.  One such place was a downtown St. Petersburg condo with as good of a view as you can get in this area.  I was there to photograph a wedding (photos).  The owner of the condo was obviously well off and appreciated the arts for the condo had assorted sculptures and paintings throughout it.  

The sculpture above at first startled me with its realness.  It was creepy.  I did not want to look at it, but one does not see such a piece of art in a domestic setting that often.  The start of the wedding was delayed so I had a few spare moments to try and best photograph this most unusual severed hands, abruptly scalped sculpture.  The figure appeared to be staring into the room.  Boring her eyes into something.  I did not want to photograph that gaze directly so opted for this profile shot, allowing me to include a bit of bokeh from the hanging lights in the dining room.  

What do you think has her so perplexed?

Favorite Five Photographs of 2010

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This collection of five photographs are my personal favorites that I made in 2010, all from a different category.  All the images were made in the St. Petersburg and Pinellas County areas.  All were taken with a Nikon D300 DSLR.

 

Nikon D300 Tamron XR Di II 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-bracket HDR tripod mounted with cable release5 - Purple Fiery Florida Sunset Sky - category: Fine Art

This HDR shot was taken on Sunset Beach, Treasure Island, Florida while teaching a DSLR photography lesson to a student.  It is amazing how little I have gone out by myself to photograph the dramatic sunset and twilight skies that are the highlights of fine art photography for Florida.  If not for teaching a photography lesson that evening, I would never have made this shot, so I am very glad I did.  Why I chose this shot in particular is for the mix of colors ranging from purple to yellow tints, to the pink reflecting off the clouds in the left-center.  There appears to be a kind of vortex opening and my imagination always believes something fantastic just might pass through to our world.  Read more philosophy behind this shot.

 

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

4 - Sandy-faced Kiki at Honeymoon Island State Park - category:  Pet

It was easy choosing this photograph of my own beloved puppy, Kiki.  For me it is two things about this photograph, first, her sandy snout.  Second, and most of all, it is the super creamy bokeh created by the awesome Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens.  It was a really hot August day at the dog beach part of Honeymoon Island State Park.  The light was extremely harsh.  Not the conditions one thinks a well exposed image can be made in.  Thanks to the Nikkor lens and thanks to Kiki having black fur, the harsh summer light served to show detail in her fur not normally seen in photos.  I have an 8x10 mounted print of this image on the nightstand by my bed.  It is the last thing I look at before I go to sleep every night.  Read more about that day at the beach.

 

Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/100th Strobist: SB-800 Speedlight to left & SB-600 to right

3 - Mother & Daughter bond on Sunset Beach - category:  Portrait

I cannot take complete credit for this portrait.  Placing their heads together was the mother's idea.  I take many portrait photographs over the course of a year, so this was perhaps the toughest category to choose a single favorite.  It might be odd to choose as a favorite portrait an image where you cannot even see the subjects faces, but to me, that is one of the reasons why I chose it as my favorite.  The viewer has to use her/his imagination, not just for wondering what their faces look like, but also for what they might be thinking and feeling at that moment.  I hope it is something this mother and daughter continue to wonder twenty years from now.  

 

Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/100th Strobist: SB-800 to left & SB-600 to right

2 - Smiling Bride with Veil on Pass-A-Grille Beach - category:  Wedding

This was an easy choice, and I knew it would be my favorite wedding shot of the year the second after I took it.  As soon as I saw Rosa in her veil, I got excited because I knew, finally, I would have a chance to make bride/veil shots, which are some of the most beautiful a wedding photographer can produce.  Again, I was greatly helped by both Rosa and her big smile, as well as Mother Nature for being able to make this shot on Pass-A-Grille beach at the very tip of St. Petersburg.  View the Bride Series images of Rosa.

 

Nikon D300 with Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 lens @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-600 @ 1/2 power to frame left

1 - Grandmother's Kiss - category:  Black & White

As soon as I applied the sepia landscape filter to this image in Silver Efex Pro, it became perhaps my favorite black & white image I ever made.  This was not shot in a studio, but right on Sunset Beach, the scene of many other photography sessions this year.  I still consider this a candid image, my signature type of shot, even though the grandmother was aware I had set my light stand next to her and had taken a position some paces away with my camera.  Her granddaughter I believe had no idea of my presence.  The contrast between the granddaughter facing the lens, but eyes to frame left, and the grandmother in profile lips just slightly pressed against her granddaughter's cheek, are what make this shot my favorite of 2010, in addition to the magic Silver Efex Pro does for black & white image conversion.  Read more about the inspiration for this photograph.

2010 Winter Solstice Moon Reflection Snell Isle Florida

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Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8 ISO 200 13sec tripod mounted (knee high) with cable releaseI first saw the winter solstice moon as I was driving home from the dog park with Kiki.  It looked very large in the sky rising over the tower of the Vinoy Golf & Country Club.  I knew as a photographer this was something I should photograph.  I quickly fed Kiki dinner (Taste of the Wild dry dog food) then got my Nikon D300 ready for long exposure shooting, i.e. attach the cable release and mount it on the tripod.

I was in time as there was still some light left in the fading twilight sky.  Without this light my shot would not have turned out as colorful.  The water of Smacks Bayou was very uncharacteristically like glass, but even the slight water movement can be seen in the shape of the moon's oblong reflection.  

Did you photograph the winter solstice moon?  If so, please share your links in the comments below.