An oasis of grass and community in downtown Tampa, that is how I would describe Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. I made this 3-shot panorama image of the park while waiting for a potrait client to arrive. On a sunny Thursday afternoon two days after Christmas, the park was full of people enjoying a crisp afternoon by the Tampa waterfront. I thought I would try a handheld panorama shooting into the sun to see how it would come out.
Photo Story
Daibutsu the Great Buddha of Kamakura Japan
Nine years ago I visited Kamakura, Japan for the first time the day after New Year's. It was just a train ride for me from my apartment in Tokyo, but it felt like traveling back in time to a different era. Kamakura is home to many ancient things, including Daibutsu, The Great Buddha, a statue some 44 feet tall. You may be surprised, as I was, that the statue is hollow and you can go inside and climb some stairs to look out the eyes yourself!
These photographs were made long before I entered the DSLR world, and in fact to my knowledge there were no consumer DSLRs even available. I had a 5 megapixel Olympus 5060 digital camera. I do recall shooting from a tripod on this day. The biggest holidays of the year for Japanese are on and around New Year's, so it was not surprising to see many visitors there on January 2, 2004.
Statues of Buddha all over Asia almost always have fruit as an offering in front of them. I thought the scale of the large statue and small fruit was amusing in this composition as I imagined Daibutsu trying to pick up one of those small apples with his large hands.
Kamakura is a must see location for anyone visiting Japan. Besides the statue of Daibutsu, there are many other ancient temples each with secret places to explore.
Purple Hyacinth Flower Macro Photograph from Publix
I am a regular Publix (Florida grocery store franchise) Friday shopper, and have been all my adult life in Florida. On a recent shopping trip I was thinking to finally get a new plant to replace the one that had long since died (of natural causes!) in my living room. I was very quickly talked into getting the above purple hyacinth by the lady behind the counter. Growing a plant right in a vase of water appealed to me, and she promised when in bloom the scent would fill the room. She was right, it now smells great anytime I pass by the bloom!
Having flowers right inside your house also makes for a very convenient photography subject too. So my photography tip is if you live somewhere that is really cold, so cold it deters you from going outside with your DSLR in winter, then go out and buy some flowers and shoot from the comfort of your living room!
Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L Tilt-Shift Lens St. Petersburg Florida
A recent client requested the use of a very specialized lens, the Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L tilt-shift lens. As this lens costs $4,000 and I am a Nikon shooter, I used the very easy to use borrowlenses.com to rent both that lens and a Canon 5D Mark III body. I rented them for three days so before I had to ship that gear back, I had a chance to roam the rooftops of a couple of parking garages in downtown St. Petersburg to make some of the miniature looking shots you can do with a tilt-shift lens.
A tilt-shift lens is actually a rather tricky piece of gear to use. A couple of things to know about them: 1.) manual focus only 2.) the meter does not work while tilted or shifted
A tilt-shift lens allows you to photograph buildings without them looking like they are tipping over. If you tilt the lens opposite of that purpose, however, especially when shooting from high up, then the subjects look tiny.
The whole lens itself rotates on the camera mounting, so you can tilt the lens not just up and down but also side-to-side. This allows creating vertical DoF as seen in the above shot with a strip alone the lines of the seawall being the only part of the photograph in focus.
Favorite Five Photographs of 2012
The five photographs below represent my personal favorites that I made in 2012, from various categories. The process, as always, for selecting my favorite images of the year is based on if the photo made me feel emotion. Another factor for choosing is if the particular photograph was a breakthrough for me in terms of technique or content.
1 - Alfa Romeo 8C HDR at Tampa Jet Center - category: event, car, HDR
Photographing the Cars & Couture event in October 2012 was the most fruitful evening of shooting of the year for me by far for getting portfolio shots. The term kid in a candy shop could not be more well applied. I had free range to photograph numerous supercars in a unique (jet hangar) setting as the light of the day was providing an ideal sunset backdrop. I felt as if in a blissful trance. It was hard to choose which shot from the event for my favorite. I chose the above shot of an Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione because it incorporates the best of my 9-exposure HDR technique in a shot that composes the car and event photography categories. I also believe it tells a story with the couple embracing framed in the windshield of the car, the woman standing alone in the center, the jets in the far background and the other people mingling at the right of the frame. This image is the one I am currently using on my business card too. (read the original photo story for this image)
2 - Abby Wrapped in Shadow with Bokeh - category: model portfolio shot, strobist
I had several model portfolio shoots in 2012, but like the Cars & Couture event described above, my shoot with Abby produced the most portfolio shots of any other model shoot. The image of her above largely in shadow also represents a new photography style for me pushing my strobist techniques into different, less traditional areas. This shoot was also on location, not in a studio, and the bokeh in the background is the result of finding trees filled with small lights. The shadow the model is wrapped in to me, is what produces the emotion of the shot, along with the pose Abby chose on her own. Both of these add up to some mystery the viewer has to ponder. (read the original photo story for this image)
3 - First Communion Dress Sping - category: portrait
I had photographed Isabella's mother twice before as she is a professional flamenco dancer. She asked me to photograph her daughter's First Communion celebration at the Don Cesar. As soon as I saw Isabella in her beautiful, flowing white dress, I knew I wanted to make a shot showing the dress twirling in the air. In the driveway of the Don Cesar I stood on the top of a low wall of potted plants to get a high perspective. Then it was about timing the shot right to get Isabella smiling and looking at the camera as well as her dress in full spin. (read the original photo story for this image)
4- Fiery Dusk Sky Over St. Petersburg - category: fine art, landscape, long exposure
2012 may well be the last year I would be able to make a shot like the one above as the location I made it from, the top of The Pier, is slated for demolition soon. If that is so and this shot is the last twilight sky over downtown St. Petersburg I ever make, then at least I got great cooperation from Mother Nature. Just minutes before sunset, everything was totally gray and overcast. Then, suddenly, light burst out from just above the horizon and changed color at least three times. This view is more commonly shot framed to the west and north, but I chose to frame it west and south, making it stand out from others I have taken from this same vantage point. (read the original photo story for this image)
5 - Kiki Yawns on Digital White Background - category: candid, Photoshop, pet
A photograph of my beloved puppy Kiki returns to my favorites of the year after a one year absence. This one demonstrates the benefits of being restricted by focal length. On my Nikon was the 105mm macro lens, making it impossible to get Kiki's entire head in the frame. I think had another, wider lens been on my camera then and all of Kiki's head could have been in the frame, the shot would not have had nearly the impact this one does by showing only part of her tongue and jaw and featuring her eye looking straight ahead. The other reason for choosing this shot is that it demonstrates my improved Photoshop technique for removing a subject from a background and my new liking of putting subjects on digitally created white backgrounds. (read the original photo story for this image)
My Favorite Five Images of 2011
My Favorite Five Images of 2010
My Favorite Five Images of 2009
--please post links to your own favorite photographs in the comments below
Bus Light Trail in St. Petersburg Florida Photography
Walking back to my car after photographing New Year's Eve 2012 Fireworks in downtown St. Petersburg I saw a double decker bus making a very awkward 3-point-turn down the road. I still had my Nikon on my tripod over my shoulder so I quickly set up on the curb thinking I had a rare chance to make a light trail photo with a tall, lit subject, not just the usual low cars.
Fortunately, it was more of a 10-point-turn so I had plenty of time to get in position and even make a few test shots before opening the shutter for 17.7 seconds to capture the image above.
New Year's Eve 2012 Fireworks St. Petersburg Florida
St. Petersburg Florida celebrated the new year 2013 with a fireworks display on New Year's Eve. I have photographed various fireworks displays in this area and am always looking for a new spot to shoot from without knowing exactly ahead of time where the fireworks will go off from. For this New Year's Eve I chose a more northern vantage point allowing some of the city skyscrapers to be in the shot too.
I detailed my fireworks shooting process in this blog post.