Photo Story

Banyan Trees on Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg

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The two famous banyan trees on Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR on tripod with cable releaseThere are banyan trees throughout the downtown St. Petersburg area and nearby surrounding areas, but no banyans are as famous or more photographed than the two trees above located right on Beach Drive NE.  As large as they are, they always seem to appear all of a sudden to passersby who often audibly gasp upon seeing them.

I first photographed banyan trees in the St. Petersburg downtown area back in August 2011 when walking back to my car after a meeting I passed by this pair.  

Photographing the famous Beach Drive NE banyan trees is rather challenging.  Their large branches and wide trunks create deep shadows and on one side of them is always a row of parked cars not making for the greatest background.  The angle of composition I chose was the only one I could find that included almost no man-made objects in the shot.  I used my Induro CT214 tripod with all the legs collapsed, shooting from just about a foot of the ground.  I chose to make a 9-exposure HDR image in order to get detail from within the trunk shadows as well as in the bright sky above.

St. Petersburg dumpster named after fighting meth?

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A randomly named dumpster in St. Petersburg? - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/4 ISO 200 1/500thI took some time a few weeks ago to just walk around downtown St. Petersburg with my Nikon D300 attached to my Induro CT214 tripod with my Nikkor 80-200mm lens attached.  Before I left the house I had the idea to bring just this gear and make what shots I could using this somewhat unusual gear grouping for shooting an urban environment.  

I came across this dumpster beside a building in a nondescript location.  It seems that dumpsters for some reason are named in St. Petersburg.  Long ago I photographed one named "KRESS."  Now that I think about it, these "names" very well could be applied by a third party and not the city sanitation department itself.  In light of that, I feel sure now that this dumpster named C.U. METH. is not random.  So it seems there is a further story behind this photograph lying with the person who painted the name on the dumpster and why.  One guess, this is where the person tossed away the last remnants of items used for taking meth.  

Now that I have realized St. Petersburg dumpsters have given names, I will keep an eye out for more.  If you see any, be sure and get a photograph of them to share.  

Seashells in Black & White Macro fine art images

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Nature's spiral black & white seashell macro image - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/32 ISO 200 2.5s tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power in 42" brolly to frame left using Yongnuo radio triggersPhotography is mostly about observing.  To be a good observer, I believe one needs to practice silence in mind and body.  The seashells featured in this photo story would not found along a quiet beach where I was taking a contemplative stroll.  They were, in fact, found in the middle of the chaos of my neighborhood dog park, but since my mind was silent, I was able to observe them.

This seashell reminds me of an anklyosaurus - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/22 ISO 200 1.6 sec tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power in 42" brolly to frame left using Yongnuo radio triggersBy the newly installed water station there is a ring of seashells, not crushed, but small and mostly whole.  As I pushed the nozzle to let Kiki drink, I observed this unusual fact.  Mostly one finds crushed seashells used in landscaping purposes so to see a bed of intact seashells surprised me.  You have to bend over quite a bit to trigger the water flow allowing me to notice the details in the shells.  I thought to myself, "I will take a few home to make macro photographs of."

Into a cavern of a seashell opening - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/22 ISO 200 1.6 sec tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power in 42" brolly to frame left using Yongnuo radio triggersIt fascinates me to think that such objects once resided untold miles away at untold depths in the sea.  Where were they from?  How old are they?  Of all places they end up in a dog park, albeit one very close to the sea.  In fact, you can see a part of Tampa Bay from the park.  Now these seashells have journeyed a few more miles to inside my apartment.  They have felt air conditioning.  However, I shall return them shortly to the dog park and their water fountain resting place.  

How did you get cracked seashell? Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/32 ISO 200 2.5 sec tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power in 42" brolly to frame left using Yongnuo radio triggersPHOTOGRAPHY TIP:  always be observing, and you will always be improving your photography

St. Petersburg Downtown Waterfront Skyline at Twilight

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St. Petersburg Florida waterfront at Twilight, this image available for fine art print & commercial license - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 10 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseThe waterfront of St. Petersburg, Florida is home to the third largest continuous waterfront park in North America (behind Vancouver and Chicago).  This is why at the very edge where the city meets Tampa Bay as viewed from the water the first thing you will see are trees.  This long park system is my favorite part of the entire city.  

I made this photograph from a secret-ish spot on The Pier allowing for a low near water-level viewpoint of the St. Petersburg skyline.  The ten second exposure allowed for some motion blur on the surface of the water and for pulling out the last remaining light in the twilight sky. 

Treasure Island Sunset Beach St. Petersburg Florida - why we live here

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Sunset Beach, Treasure Island, St. Petersburg, Florida - my favorite beach - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 2 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseIt seems to me Florida is a very specific place to live.  It is warm and its extremely long coastline is all beach.  These two things are why we live here.  Being a specific place to live, it lacks certain things, most notably mountains and four seasons.  Instead of mountain views there are amazing sunset and twilight sky views that fluctuate in color throughout the year.  Intesad of four seasons there are essentially two, the humidity season (April through September) and the dry air season (October through March).

I value being able to go swimming at the beach in February.  I like wearing shorts 362 out of 365 days per year.  I pay a price in sweat for those things though.  Therefore, in the remaining days of the dry air season, I savor each one, like today.  

Why do you live in Florida?

Kiteboarding at Pass-A-Grille Beach Florida in Stormy Skies

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Kiteboarding at Pass-A-Grille Beach Florida - unusual settings needed - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 800 1/500thPass-A-Grille Beach exists at the very southern end of all the gulf beaches of Pinellas County on Gulf Blvd.  It is a quiet place, especially in February.  It is a very quiet place in February just after a storm passes by.  The length of the sandy beach was empty.  The only other human around was floating out above the water kiteboarding under stormy skies.

Kiteboarder floating over Pass-A-Grille Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 800 1/500thAs is usual when walking around with my DSLR, I had only one lens with me.  I knew before I left the house the types of photographs I wanted to make, so I brought the appropriate lens for that job, my Tamron XR Di II 17-50mm f/2.8 lens.  However, this meant when I saw the kiteboarder I could only make wide sweeping shots in which the kiteboarder himself appeared but as a speck.  I felt limited by that then, but now I realize I would not have wanted to make the shots any other way because the story of these shots was largely in the storm itself.  Showing the kiteboarder in the context of the weather was more dramatic than if I had made tight actions shots of him in flat light.

Kiteboarder zooming against the wind at Pass-A-Grille Beach FloridaIf you are looking for a quiet place to just "be," then I highly recommend Pass-A-Grille Beach for its forgottenness, it's end of the land feeling and for its sweeping views of the Gulf.  If you go there in winter, after a storm, you might see someone with a dog and a camera passing you by.  

Meeting Rick Sammon - what I learned in Oldsmar Florida

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Jason & Rick Sammon - I got to meet one of my biggest photography influences - thank you Kathy for the photoI was walking down the hallway in the Hilton Garden Inn looking to make a quick restroom stop before attending a photography seminar.  I see a tall man at the end of the hallway who asks me, if I am looking for the photography seminar, that it is this way.  I do not recognize him at first from a few feet away, but the voice was very familiar.  As I get closer I realize it is the speaker for the seminar himself, Rick Sammon.  In my mind I thought wow, shook his hand and asked if he would sign my copy of his book, DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY SECRETS.  He did so gladly.  This is how I got to meet Rick Sammon for the first time after listening to him for years on photography podcasts, which made his voice very familiar to me.

Rick (website) is a very famous photography traveling to dozens and dozens of countries making all kinds of photographs.  His photography talent is evident in his images.  What is perhaps even more amazing about him is his passion and enthusiasm for sharing what he knows and loves about photography with people, often for free.  This particular evening he gave two hours of his time to talk to about a hundred local photographers of all levels.  His photography podcasts I used to listen to were all for free.  I really respect how much he gives to help others love photography as much as he does.  

About thirty minutes into Rick's photography seminar I began to realize just exactly how much my own photography knowledge came from him.  Things I now tell my own photography students are nearly verbatim tips Rick espouses as key things for making great photographs.  This surprised me and made me smile.  I guess, however, this should hardly be surprising given I have listend to dozens of hours of his podcasts and read his SECRETS book containing all those tips.  

Depsite all that expsoure already to Rick's knowledge, here are things I learned during his 2-hour seminar: 

  • speedlights keep pupils wide (bedroom eyes)
  • use layer masks for combining to very different DoF's
  • horse photographs ideally show all legs off the ground (I thought just curled under before, which is probably the same actually)
  • a photographer should practice (a lot)
  • cut a slotted hole in a piece of cardboard for movie lighting (like when peeping through window blinds)
  • include shadows on a wall to add depth
  • conversely put the flash high to hide shadows on walls 

It was inspiring to meet Rick and feel his enthusiasm.  This is my photography tip for your, go and hear (famous) professional photographers speak!  I am sure you will always learn something.  This will help your photography a lot.  Each tip you can pick up adds to your skill set.  Picking up a few key skills from other photographers and lots of practice was how I taught myself DSLR photography.  I cannot emphasize enough how important it was to me randomly picking up a key piece of photography knowledge here and there because of being around other photographers via seminars like this one and even more through photography meetups.  

Thank you very much to Kathy for organizing this seminar and for making the photo of me with Rick above and for giving so much of her own time to run The Tampa Bay Strobist & Photoshop Collective on Meetup.com.  You should join her group!

So now I have had direct contact with my two favorite photographers and biggest influences, this meeting with Rick Sammon and a few years ago Scott Bourne personally critiqued one of my photos on his website.  Try and seek out and meet your own favorite photographers!  It may be easier than you think.