Quotes

Photo quote for today:
"Sometimes the photographer looks for too many elements to fill the frame when in fact the only thing you need is what the image is about." Arturo Macias Uceda

Back in Sarasota after taking some time to visit family and catch up on some kayaking back in Maine. Now its time to catch up on my postings.

I think this image is appropriate to today's quote. I'm partial to Water Lilies and found this great specimen at the Mote Aquarium. Enjoy!

A Walk In The Rain

Photo quote for today:

"There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are." - Ernst Haas

Wanted to post an image that is a bit of a departure from my usual style. Grabbed this moment from a recent trip to Europe.

An "F/8 and be there" day

Photo quote for today:

"F/8 and be there."-Anonymous

Though there is some debate as to who may have coined this quote, it appears that the name most often associated with it was a photojournalist by the name of Weegee (Arthur Fellig, June 12, 1899 – December 26, 1968). Whether it was Weegee or some other forever to be anonymous person my take on the quote has always been very straightforward. Get out there be prepared, and when opportunity strikes trigger the shutter, it's that simple.

A few day ago I had one of those "F/8 and be there"events.

Photo quote for today:
"It is not what I see outside that makes my images, it is what I feel on the inside that comes out."-Carolyn M. D'Alessandro

Sometimes less is more.

Field of Blooms

Photo quote for today:
"Sometimes you can tell a large story with a tiny subject."-Elliot Porter

It came to me, as I was posting the previous image of the Argus, that the lens insert was only one of many images from a sunflower field back in Maine. Today's image is long lens landscape from that collection. Enjoy

Something Different

Photo quote for today:
"Seeing simply is seeing significantly"-Jack Wilkinson

My dad has this great old camera which has been collecting dust for as long as I can remember. I asked if I could briefly borrow it and thought it would be fun to make an image of it that he would appreciate. Today the print hangs on the wall at his home, even though the camera is still in storage collecting dust, I was able to get one more good frame out of it.

Surprise at the beach

Photo quote for today:
"There is no such a thing as artistic photography. In photography, like in all things, there are people who can see and others who cannot even look."-Nadar

Today started off with a bang! A huge thunderstorm came through the area last night dropping copious amounts of rain, and according to the local news over 3,000 lightning strikes in the first hour. I guess this is why this area is known as the lightning capital of the country. I knew from previous experience that it would make for good shooting at the beach, and in my upcoming posts I'll share some of those panoramic images. The icing on this morning's shoot came as I was leaving, my panoramic images were in the camera, I had also spent some time with the gulls as they played in the rain water that flooded parts of the beach, and was heading to the parking lot when I decided to change my exit route. As I walked back to the beach to choose another point of departure, a pair of Roseate Spoonbills landed directly in front of me and made their way to the same area as the gulls that I had just wrapped-up photographing. Never having had an opportunity to capture any images of these birds I set-up and began shooting. They're considered rare, even in this area, and by the time I left they had started to draw a crowd. Here are some samples from today's work.

Photo quote for today:
"The camera always points both ways. In expressing your subject, you also express yourself."- Freeman Patterson

Some of the birds from a recent day trip to Sanabel Island.

Myakka Big Sky

Photo quote for today: When people ask what equipment I use - I tell them my eyes. - Anonymous 

What Florida lacks in hills and valleys it makes up for with the most amazing sky scapes. As temperatures warm the air into the 90's the normal course of events is for clouds to form, with the occassional summer rain shower then overspreading the area. I've found the exceptionally flat and stark Myakka Prairie to be the ideal place to capture these sky scapes. As no two are ever the same, I never know what I'll have to work with until I actually arrive, then it becomes a case of mix and match between the foreground and cloud compositions.

Today's image is a (4) frame panoramic, taken vertically. Though I could have accomplished the same composition using my wide angle lens, the panoramic option allows me to make an exceptionally large print with great detail. When you merge images into a panoramic the selected frames retain approximatley 75% of the censor's capabilty, which in my case is 15 megapixels, with the rest of the information discarded during the merging process. This image is equal to approximately that of a 45 megapixel censor. Enjoy!

Myakka Bird Sampler

Photo quote for today:
"The question is not what you look at, but what you see."-Henry David Thoreau

Here is a small sampling of the birds that make Myakka River State Park. Those that I can identify I have, others I still need to research.

Ibis (not sure the variety)

White Heron

White Ibis

Black Vulture whose favorite snack, aside from roadkill, is the rubber around the windshield of a car.

Bald Eagle

LesserYellowlegs

Tranqulity

Photo quote for today:

"I always thought good photos were like jokes. If you have to explain it, it just isn't that good." - Anonymous


The storm has finally moved on. My Tuesday quote reflects how I feel about this image today, but who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Another Red Flag Day

Photo quote for today:
"Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I'm going to take tomorrow." Imogen Cunningham

Shooting was limited again today thanks to tropical storm Debby. Try again tomorrow. If you'd like to see the before image of the read flag shot just scroll down to the blue lifeguard station in my earlier post.

Photo quote for today:

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs." - Ansel Adams

I'm fortunate to be about a (5) minute drive of Myakka River State Park.  The river flows through 58 square miles of wetlands, prairies, hammocks and pinelands, and has a very diverse bird population, not to mention thousands of Alligators. One of the migrating birds that winters down here is the White Pelican, with a wingspan of around (9) feet it's the largest of the seasonal visitors. I took a few snaps in late spring, just before they left for the season. I'll be posting some of the other birds that make this area home in upcoming posts.

Birds

Photo quote for today:
Pictures you have taken have an influence on those that you are going to make. That's life! - John Sexton

I thought I'd share some of the bird life to be found here in Florida.

Solitude

Photo quote for today: 

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  Art is knowing which ones to keep". - Scott Adams After photographing landscapes in Maine and the even larger landscapes of the Southwest for the last 35 years I have found it very challenging trying to accomplish anything close to the same here, in my new home in Florida. With everything being as green as it is, and flat, I've had to revisit my definition of what I envision to be a landscape. After some thought I've settled on working areas by the beaches, along with the great cloud formations that form over the prairie (see my earlier post). At this time they're both a work in progress and subject to change as I keep exploring my options. In this series I'm studying the effects of ultra long exposures, in pre-dawn light, to see how differing surf conditions impact the composition. Of course the tides here only vary by a foot, between high and low tide, so I'll have to wait for a storm to blow in for a true test of what things will look like.

Visualize

Photo quote for today: "You don't take a photograph, you make it" - Ansel Adams

The one thing that trumps everything when it comes to making that great image is your ability to visualize the finished image. There is nothing new about this concept, the most well known photographer of our time, Ansel Adams, was unquestionably the master of visualization. Now that we've arrived into the digital age we have within our reach the ability to control every aspect of image creation. So the next time you come across your next jaw dropping subject take a moment to pause and visualize the final result.

In my series below on the lifeguard stations of Siesta Key, my visualization was that of a very simple composition. I wanted the stations to pop out, complemented by an interesting sky. Because I now live in a region known as the Sun Coast it took several weeks of weather watching, and numerous trips to the beach, to capture the raw images. I've purposely included the original image of the blue station as a before an after comparison of what I visualized in the final image.

Photo quote for today:
It matters little how much equipment we use; it matters much that we be masters of all we do use. - Sam Abell

Prairie and thunderhead, Myakka River State Park


This is typical of the summer weather along the Gulf Coast of Florida. In the late afternoon thunderstorms boil up and create these big sky landscapes. I grabbed this image along the Myakka Prairie, less then a 10 minute drive from the house. I expect I'll be spending much more time in the prairie this summer.  

Bamboo In Abstract

Photo quote of the day:
Our job is to record, each in his own way, this world of light and shadow and time that will never come again exactly as it is today. - Edward Abbey