"SAVE OUR GULF" seaweed protest at Pass-A-Grille Beach Florida

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BP protest sign made of seaweed on Pass-A-Grille Beach Florida

I was actually in the middle of photographing a wedding when I first noticed a raised mound of sand to my right with some words spelled out on it.  The bride and groom later walked past it allowing me to pause quickly (hence not getting the framing perfect) to make this photograph and finally read what it said:  

SAVE OUR GULF

The beaches of west-central Florida remain untainted by the BP oil spill due to I believe the direction of the currents in the Gulf.  Yet as I often have contact with beach side businesses like hotels and rental agencies via my beach wedding photography jobs, I have heard that despite our oil-free beaches here, business is down, especially for the hotels.  Thus, I can only imagine the hardships businesses that are actually on oil covered beaches must be experiencing right now.  A large portion of my photography livelihood is made on Pinellas County's beautiful sandy beaches.  If oil ever does make its way on shore here, myself, and all other beach photographers could take a hit.  Although I would be more worried about my local bird friends (as I wrote about here) and sea creature friends, as I can just shift my business more inland.  

My gut feeling is that BP does not want to permanently cap the well.  That it has and is still holding out hope to be able to cap it and still pump all the oil out of it and sell it despite the PR and stock price nightmare of the past 82 days.

Are there any protests to the BP oil spill on your local beaches or in your neighborhoods?  If so, please link to them in the comments.

Martineau Candid Family Sunset Beach Portraits Florida

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Nikon D80 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens @ f/2 ISO 200 1/1250th natural light (eyes not enhanced)

The Martineau Family was visiting Florida from Pennsylvania . . . right in the middle of our stormiest stretch of weather.  However, once again I was able to finish the portrait session just before the rain started falling.  With three young children our time on Sunset Beach on Treasure Island was very fluid and fast moving.  We roved the length of the beach as both my Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens and Nikon D80 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens dangled around my neck allowing me to photograph those near to me and still capture the action happening a bit further away.

Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/320th

Due to the storm's approach Sunset Beach was fairly empty allowing nice clean backgrounds free of beach combers and looky-loos.  The Martineau children had free reign to run the shoreline.  I wonder if a lack of front teeth allows one to run faster or does it create wind resistance?

Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/320th

While the children did the running the parents did some of the heavy lifting.  I wonder, does a child notice the last time they were picked up by their father before they got too big to be picked up anymore?  Does the father think, "that was the last time I ever picked up my child."  Looks like there are plenty of years left of lifting though in this case.

Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/400th

No rest for the Martineau family that evening.  I encouraged them to be as active as possible (especially with dark clouds on the horizon).  I even asked them to run twice as the first time was not fast enough!  The faster you run, the more natural it looks.

Nikon D80 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens @ f/2 ISO 200 1/1250thIn the end I was very pleased with the variety of shots I was able to make and the fact we all stayed dry the entire time, not taking into account any perspiration after such and active shoot!  Thanks again Martineau family for being so cooperative and not afraid to run! 

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    • Gateway Church St Petersburg Wedding with Bianca & Derrick

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    Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club docks provides the background for this wedding portraitYou may recognize Bianca as I recently featured her in my new Bride Series.  She married Derrick at the Gateway Church in St. Petersburg.  Their reception was at the Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club, a place I photographed at twice before (New Year's Eve, Admiral Farragut Graduation 2010).

    Bianca and Derrick take their vows inside Gateway Church in St. Petersburg, Florida

    Bianca and Derrick were about as ideal as wedding clients could get for me.  First and foremost, Bianca wanted non-traditional photographs and trusted my candid style to let me tell the story of her wedding through my own artistic vision.  Also, they are super friendly people and though I had only met them once before their wedding, I already felt like friends with them and that I was not photographing a stranger's wedding, but people I already had some kind of connection with.  Again, this is ideal for me.

    We would all eventually get stuck at a long drawbridge before reaching the reception on Treasure Island!It also really helped that I was very familiar with the Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club.  I knew exactly where I wanted to take them for some quick outdoor shots (see top photo) before we all melted in the searing midday Florida sun.  I am really glad we all made the effort because the lead shot above turned out to be Bianca's favorite.  

    Hershey's Kisses cleverly placed amongst diamondsThere was plenty of time to get all the shots I wanted.  I could even use my macro lens some to get the above detail shot of the centerpiece to Derrick and Bianca's table at the reception.  As a child I would very carefully unwrap Hershey's kisses and save the white label for some reason.  

    One of these would soon be in my stomach.Cupcakes have become a huge dessert trend in the U.S. over the past few years.  The above cupcakes were laid out on a multi-tiered tray in the reception ballroom and I eyed them immediately.  Walking past them from three feet away I could still literally smell their sweetness.  As my time photographing their wedding came to a close, I was ecstatic that Bianca said I could take one home with me.  Little did she know I might have photographed her entire wedding for a tray of those cupcakes rather than cash money.  Maybe.

    the flower girl ruled the dance floorThe last thing I photographed was some very lively dancing buy the reception guests.  The DJ knew how to get a lot of people up and moving.  However, everyone made way for this boy and the flower girl and to my surprise he was twirling her and doing complicated dance moves!  I always like the last shot I take while on a job to be a high note, and the kids above made that easy this time.

    I thank Derrick and Bianca again for choosing me as their wedding photographer!

    Florida Bird Collection Series - 001 Great Blue Heron, Brown Pelican, Pigeon & Seagull

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    Great Blue Heron - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/1600 -0.67 ev

    There are birds all over Florida.  Great Blue Herons like the one above are often seen on beaches, and even on back patios!  This series is meant to be a modest and/or amusing collection of random bird photographs.  When I first looked at that great blue heron, I thought it looked like it was in prison.  So since I could not get a clean shot of the bird, I chose to make use of the obstruction.  I just made sure to use a single focus point and put it right on the GBR's eye.

    Seagull (with bokeh) - Nikkon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/8 ISO 200 1/800thThere is no more common bird than a seagull (assuming one lives by the sea).  Why I chose this photograph was for its ultra creamy bokeh produced by the fantastic Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens, a great bargain alternative to the much more expensive Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm VR f/2.8G lens (not even to mention the crazy expensive VR II version).  I first bought my 80-200mm lens (a used one) just under two years ago, and was amazed by its bokeh the first time I shot with it, and remain so to this very day.  

    (rainbow?) pigeon - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/4 ISO 200 1/1250thMaybe the pigeon is more common than the seagull in Florida?  Still, I chose to include this photo because of the repeat of color on the pigeon's neck matching the color of the bokeh.  With bird photography, bokeh can really enhance a shot from just being a snapshot of a common bird to a photograph of a common scene shown in a way that cannot be seen by just standing there.  The quality of bokeh actually varies greatly between lenses.  Before the 80-200mm lens, I had the Nikkor AF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G lens.  At first I thought the latter's bokeh was good.  However, upon first seeing the bokeh produced by the 80-200mm, I was stunned at how much creamier it was.  Selling the 18-200mm lens was the first thing I did out of learned photographic knowledge.

    diving brown pelican - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro f/2.8G lens ISO 400 f/4 1/5000thThis female brown pelican was a millimeter away from breaking the water's surface in search of her dinner.  I made sure to use a very fast shutter speed in order to be able to freeze her plunging dive.  Thankfully, she made dive after dive so had several chances to capture her.  However, like all of these shots, I was not out to purposefully photograph birds at the time.  Three of the shots I made while teaching a DSLR photography lesson and the other was made during a portrait session.  Nowadays I do not have much chance to to photograph Florida's many birds, hence the start of this collection series!

    Clearwater Beach Candid Odum Family Florida Portraits

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    Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/640th strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight on light stand to frame left triggered by Yongnuo radio remotes 

    "Third time's the charm" is a cliche, I believe, yet it was true for the Odum family's candid Florida beach portrait session.  Originally scheduled for an early Sunday morning, that was promptly rained out.  A Monday evening plan was empathically rained out.  That left only a few hours of daylight Tuesday morning left to have the portrait session before they had to return to Georgia, and finally Florida's brilliant blue skies revealed themselves and photographs were made.

    Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight on light stand to frame left triggered by commander mode

     

    It actually worked out well as Clearwater Beach is normally the most crowded beach in the entire area, yet on a random Tuesday morning it was as empty as it ever is.  At 8am, even the lifeguards were not yet on duty so their stands could be used as backdrops.  The sun was already fairly high in the sky, creating a hair light for young Jada.  

    Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens @ f/11 ISO 200 1/500th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight on light stand to frame left triggered by Youngnuo radio remotesIt was a cloudless morning, so I painted the background of many of the shots with vivid blue, as seen above.  I used my trusty default Florida strobist sunshine shooting settings of f/11 ISO 200 and at least 1/250th shutter speed.  I use a light stand rather than a tripod for several reasons, but the major one is that my light stand can reach a hight of 9 feet, whereas a tripod cannot even come close to that.  For shots like the lifeguard stand, having all that height is necessary.

    Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/8 ISO 200 1/1000th Strobist: NIkon SB-800 Speedlight on light stand to frame left triggered by Yongnuo radio triggersThis shot up on the Clearwater Beach Pier itself would just not be possible in the evening as it is packed with artisans selling their crafts.  I would not have even of been able to set down my light stand.  So again we were lucky in a way to have to wait until Tuesday morning for our portrait session.  The Odum family naturally took to this defiant stance at the entrance to the paid section of the pier.  I am very glad we were ultimately able to produce some photographic memories of their 4th of July trip to Florida. 
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    • Florida DSLR Photography Lesson with Pete & his Nikon D5000

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    Pete likes to use his Nikkor 70-30mm VR lens with his Nikon D5000 the most because he likes to see detials

    During our DSLR Photography Lesson, new student Pete asked the most questions of any student before.  However, this only made my job easier as I like to be asked questions and this process also tells me exactly what the student needs to know.  It was a very rare rain-free evening in St. Petersburg, virtually windless, and thus pretty steamy, but we had many shaded Q&A sessions over the two hours.  Pete was very anxious to learn how to use his new Nikon D5000 better.  He had photography experience, but modern DSLRs have quite a few more controls on them than cameras of yesteryear.  The first thing we did was get him off of P mode and onto aperture priority mode.  Then I taught him about aperture, and about how he really only needs to worry about using f/5.6, f/8 and f/11 for the type of photography he likes to do.  

    Two leading lines go right to the subject in this quick portrait of PeteBasically I showed Pete a good default settings base that will suit him well for shooting still objects in many situations: 

    • f/11
    • ISO 200 (lowest on Nikons)
    • aperture priority mode
    • white balance = sunny
    • focus mode = AF-S (one shot for Canon)
    • one (centered) focus point
    • use a tripod as much as possible 

    For sunny outdoor Florida weather, morning to evening, those settings will work well for most still subject matter.  

    Pete is traveling to beautiful Martha's Vineyard soon so I look forward to seeing his shots from there! 

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    • Hebert Family Candid Florida Beach Portraits in Black & White

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    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens @ f/8 ISO 200 1/320th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight 1/2 power on light stand

    A majority of my photography jobs lately have taken place in the evening outside (or in "the environment" in photographer terms).  This has coincided exactly with the start of the subtropical thunderstorm patterns of west central Florida.  Thus, on top of all the other things I have on my mind as a photographer, nowadays the weather has become almost the dominant thought.  For my own shooting style, I do like the drama and dynamism a storm can bring to a photograph's background.  So artistically, I am very ok with them.  However, the logistics can get quite intense knowing when to continue a shoot, and when to run for cover!

    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8 ISO 400 1/320th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight handheld off camera 1/2 power

    As long as I am able to start shooting 30 minutes before the rain arrives, I have a very good sense for avoiding the rain.  Having lived in Florida since I was a boy, and spending most of that time outside, knowing if a storm on the horizon will pass or punish is an acquired skill.  With the Hebert family, we were at the far south end of Sunset Beach as a southerly storm closed in quickly.  I used my fastest shooting methods possible.  Got the shots I wanted to, then got everyone on the boardwalk back toward our cars in order to take cover if necessary, and if not then drop off all gear but what I can handhold and go back on the beach for a few final pre-storm shots.

    Nikon D80 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8 @ f/4 ISO 500 natural lightWell, everything was timed perfectly as I was able to get all the shots the Hebert family requested and all the shots I personally wanted as well.  With all gear safely in the back of the Lexus and my drive away song queued, the rain fell.  Skills. 

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