Water Scenes

In yesterday's comments, Babystepper said that I must spend hours at the Indian River Lagoon.

I'm not sure about hours, but when I go to sit at a park, some of the closest and prettiest parks are on the lagoon.

I guess the short answer is, yes, I do, but maybe not as many hours as my photos might suggest.

In lots of ways, there are more interesting things to photograph on the lagoon that on the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Indian River Lagoon is a very diverse place. It's a pretty massive body of water in it's own right, so it affects me in many of the same ways as the ocean itself.

These two photos were taken on a visit to Castaways Point Park in Palm Bay, Florida, within the city limits of the town where I live. Palm Bay is growing so fast that they're finally sinking some money into land for parks before it's all turned into houses, apartments, or condos.

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I didn't think that I had posted these before. I did a lazy man's search but couldn't find them, and there were no jpegs of these on my computer, so I don't think I have. I take most of my shots in RAW format. I'm enough of a geek and dweeb to actually like the process of starting with a RAW format image when I can.

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I have a picture of MY MAN CORNER where I have my computer and do my photo stuff on my other blog today. (Some lucky men get a whole Man Room, our house it too small for that so I have my own Man Corner.)

Dolphin

I saw this fella swimming around in the Indian River Lagoon a couple of weekends ago.

Looking for food, no doubt.

One may see them here or in the ocean quite often, but I never tire of it and I never take it for granted.

Panorama: The Indian River Lagoon

I've put a few panoramas on this and my other blog in the past couple of weeks.

They were much easier to work with and to get a nice look with than I ever imagined.

This one that I'm posting here today was every bit as difficult to work with as I thought they all would be.

But I like the result, and learned a few new tricks, so it's well worth it in the end.

I'm going to try to use this one in the title banner of my other blog.

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I did my usual Sunday Picture Post on my other blog, Least Significant Bits if you want to go check them out.

It's Hard, But Somebody Has To Do It

Lovely Wife and I have moved so many times in the years we've been married, that we have tried to take advantage of the things that are available to do wherever we have lived.

We've lived here in Palm Bay, Florida longer than anywhere we've lived before and it starts to seem repetitious with the photography.

But then I think, hey you knucklhead, there's folks all over who would love to be here for just one week to go to the beach and soak up some sunshine, heat, and humidity. Then I realize that although things might be repetitious and all in a normal day here, but I shouldn't allow it to become boring or routine.

I do appreciate and am thankful for the 300+ sunny days here, as well as being close enough to get to the beach on the Atlantic in about 20 minutes from home and 15 minutes from work. And if that seems too far, I can be sitting on the Indian River Lagoon in about half of both of those times where I can enjoy a beach-like setting plus get to see dolphins and spiffy birds.

These two pictures were taken several years ago one morning. The previous night was an insomnia festival, and I ended up staying up all night and cleaning all of my cameras and lenses and working the shutters on old cameras to boot.

I left for work early, and at the time had to drive down this stretch of US 1, which goes from Key West up to Maine, and set up and took pics at sunrise.

Seeing these again brings home to me just how different digital images look and feel from film and slides.

These images were taken on Kodak print film with a Nikon N90s that I owned at the time, and they seem thicker and more 3D somehow than do digital pics. I'm not complaining; I love my D70s more than any camera before, but I do miss how print and slide film has a depth to it that digital pictures don't have.

I'll shut up now.

More Reruns (sorry)

This is a post with photos from one of the first posts I did on my other blog. This is the post in it's entirety from March 14, 2006.

Sunset Pics

Pic(s) of the Day
I took these a few years ago on 12/15/2002. They are of THE most colorful sunset I have ever seen, and I am a sunset connoisseur. One pic shows the colors in all their glory. The other picture, with the tree in it as a reference, is to prove that I didn't fudge the colors. They are true to what actually appeared. At work, I've had to give copies of all the ones I took that evening because as friends found out I had pics of that sunset, they all had seen it, but didn't have a camera with them. I am still so glad I had ours that day. This is the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County, looking from Melbourne Beach toward the mainland of Florida.

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Update:
Since taking these photos in 2002, I've seen a few other sunsets in the same "ballpark", but none quite as amazing. This one still tops my list.

I'm also sorry to report that that amazing tree in the second photo was cut down a few years ago. Like the old song says, "they paved paradise, and put up a parking lot." I'm not an environmentalist but I sure hated to see that magnificent tree brought down so the adjacent dentist's office could have about 4 more parking places.

Lagoon

These were taken at a public park alond the Indian River Lagoon in Sebastian, Florida.

I found out quickly, that if you come to this park, the squirrels expect to be fed. I was chastised by disgusted squirrels who came close to me, looked cute, but I had nothing to feed them with for their efforts. They then climbed up in trees and chirped angrily at me.

I Need Your Help; and Indian River Lagoon Photos

These were taken from Ballard Park in Melbourne, Florida. They're both looking out from the park into the Indian River Lagoon. I've always wanted to ride on a sailboat, but as of yet, have never done so. I'll get out there one day.

I need to ask you folks a question. I've been approached by email about some of my photographs of the Indian River Lagoon. From what I can tell, they're resposible for advertising locally for a company that does business on the Lagoon. It's not a detailed query, just asking if I was interested in selling some of my photos they've seen, and asking my price.

I've never sold a photo. I've never tried to sell a photo.

Here's my question. If you were approached like this, how much would you "charge" for the use of a photo or set of photos. I have ABSOLUTELY no idea what folks like me should charge for this. I will assume they will use the photo or two that they've seen and liked, so I probably won't be going out specifically on a shoot for them. They simply want to use some of the photos that I've put on the internet that seems to fit what they want for advertising. What should I charge? What would you charge? What have you charged?

If you have a response for me, please email me at mastersja@cfl.rr.com. I would appreciate your help in determining a reasonable rate for the use of my photos, I'm guessing on a brochure or internet web site advertising these folks operations.

Again, please email me if you can help at: mastersja@cfl.rr.com

Thank you all in advance.

Golden

This past Saturday, I posted a couple of sunset photos that I took the previous evening.

These two photos were from the same batch that I took on Friday at sunset.

The top one is the golden colors of the sun reflecting on the side of a high dollar set of condominiums in Melbourne, Florida. The water is part of the Indian River Lagoon, our section of the intracoastal waterway.

The bottom photo is simply looking east toward the barrier island across the Indian River Lagoon. Beyond the island across the top of the photo is the Atlantic Ocean.

First And Last

Last summer, soon after buying my D70s, I went wandering for photographs.

These were the first and last photos I took on that particular afternoon.

The first one is of a real estate office out on the barrier island which is called "beachside" locally. This office is in Melbourne Beach, Florida.

The second photo was after the sun had set, and I was exploring the joys of having adjustable ISO on a camera. This was taken at ISO 800, and I was so excited that although I can see the noise somewhat in the enlarged version, it's still pretty good. Especially compared to how grainy slide film gets at higher ISO ratings. The photo is looking north along A1A in the northern section of Indian River County, about 25 miles (40km) south of where I live.

Palm Bay

Top Photo: What's left of a palm frond among the sand and shells on the shore of Palm Bay, in Palm Bay, Florida. I just liked the symmetry of it, and the gritty ground.

Bottom Photo: I mentioned this yesterday; Palm Bay. It's a body of water in the Indian River Lagoon, our section of the Intracostal Waterway. People live in the city of Palm Bay for years and never realize there is an actual body of water called Palm Bay.

Both photos were taken at one of Palm Bay's city parks, Castaways Point Park on one side of the bay.

Signs #2: Manatee Zone

Manatees are a fairly common sight around this area.

The first photo is a large sign placed in the way of boats entering Palm Bay on the Indian River Lagoon. The Indian River Lagoon is our section of the Intracostal Waterway that runs up the entire east coast of the US. Palm Bay is an actual bay on the Lagoon and the source of the name of Palm Bay, the city I live in. Strangely enough, most of the residents of Palm Bay the city have absolutely no idea that there is an actual body of water named Palm Bay on the eastern edge of the city.

The second photo is near the mouth of Crane Creek in Melbourne, Florida where it meets the Indian River Lagoon a couple of miles north of where the first photo was taken.

There are an unbelievable amount of boats in this area on all bodies of water and the slow moving manatees you see around almost all have marks on them from being gouged with boat propellers. Despite this being the most common way manatees are killed, boaters around here fight tooth and nail to keep from having boat speed limits curtailed.

The husband of a lady I work with once worked with the largest custom boat dock builder in Brevard County, and while he worked there was part of the crew that put up hundreds of these free standing Manatee Zone signs in local waterways. He said it was back breaking work.

Manatees like to swim just under the surface of the water, making them almost impossible to see unless boats are going very slow and have someone riding point and watching for them. Hence the boaters hate manatees and any laws meant to slow them down from their blasting through the creeks, rivers, and lakes.

Personally, seeing how boaters can be around here, I'm surprised there are any manatees left.

Spiffy Lookin' Trees

Both of these photos were taken in a public park along the Indian River Lagoon in Sebastian, Florida. About ten miles (16km) south of where I live.

It was a beautiful day, and I was just snapping away. Later as I looked through the photos on the computer, I really liked the first one. It isn't artistic or anything, but the trees have plenty of character on their own. The clock was put up as a memorial for something or other, but I've forgotten what.

The second photo was at the same park, but I liked the symmetry of them lined up there, with the tall one in the middle.

I'm glad I got a few decent shots, because my camera battery died about fifteen minutes after I got there. Nikon's camera batteries last a very long time, but once the camera battery level indicator starts showing anything less than full, I know I need to charge it up. It was showing 3/4 full, so I thought that it would last a while. Nope, from 3/4 full until it stopped working was about 50 photos.

My new lens has Nikon's vibration reduction feature, which I love, love, love, but I'm even more careful to keep my battery topped off.

Did You Know That Birds Stretch?

All three photos:
Nikon D70s; 1/500sec; f5.6; Nikon 55-200mm lens at 200mm.

Great Blue Heron. He was hunting, and stopped to stretch.

Photos taken at Castaways Point Park, Palm Bay, Florida. On the mainland bank of the Indian River Lagoon.