Lifeguard Crew

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-300mm lens at 280mm, f/5.6, 1/1250sec, ISO 200

At the beach in Indialantic, Florida.

I was rather suspicious of the evening shift lifeguard crew on the day we went.

I question these guys' commitment and ability to jump in the water and save lives.

Dragonfly, Black Bayou National Wildlife Refuge, Monroe, Louisiana

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-300mm lens at 280mm, f/5.6, 1/2000sec, ISO 200

The first week of August, 2013, I took my first trip to my home town, Monroe, La. in six years.

Just got back this week after a week there.

Went one day to Black Bayou National Wildlife Refuge and got this photo of a dragonfly against the setting sun.

Mathers Bridge, Indian Harbour Beach, again

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-200mm lens at 28mm, f/16, 1/2sec, ISO 800

As I walked back to my van yesterday evening, I looked back at the bridge and had to stop for a couple of extra shots.

I love the deep blue sky at dusk.

Mathers Bridge Lights

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-200mm lens at 105mm, f/22, 1/30sec, ISO 800

One "corner" of a local drawbridge; Mathers Bridge in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. 

I arrived just before sunset yesterday (Fri. 12/7/12) and in only a few minutes the sky turned from so-so to amazing.

I'm so glad I stopped and got out with my camera.

I was able to get some really good sunset shots but also some really interesting ones of the bridge's structure.

I liked the light in this shot and did a Photoshop Elements approximation of the Orton process on it.

After Sunset, Sebastian Inlet, Florida

Nikon D90, Nikon 10-24mm lens at 10mm, f/16, 1/40sec, ISO 800

After sunset one day at Sebastian Inlet State Park.

Sebastian inlet is on a barrier island and is the nearest water access from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Atlantic Ocean from where I live in Palm Bay.  This is about fifteen miles south of our home.

In the photo I'm standing on the south shore of the inlet, and the camera is facing west and a bit north, back toward the mainland.

I could barely make out that wood stork there on the left, so I turned on my flash and held it up in my left hand pointed toward him.

My aim was a little off, the light from the flash hit mainly just short of of the stork, but the flash startled him and he flew away.  No chance to re-aim my flash for a second try.

I like this shot anyway, though it's not great.  The deep colors in the photo really bring back to me how pretty and peaceful it was there that evening.

Sunset in Palm Bay, Florida - Friday, Nov. 23, 2012

This afternoon (Friday, Nov. 23, 2012) Lovely Wife and I went out to a park at the western edge of the town we live in.

There weren't but a couple of wispy little clouds in the whole sky, but the colors of the sunset and afterward were very dramatic anyway.

Usually a partly cloudy sky really helps make sunsets more colorful as they catch the colorful light, but clouds weren't really needed today.

Good times.

Max Brewer Causeway - Titusville Florida

 

This past Saturday evening, Daughter Number One and I drove up to Titusville, Fla. and went to the ocean at Canaveral National Seashore.

The sunset was good, not great, but as we headed home from the park I saw the Max Brewer Causeway lit up and very pretty in the fading blue light of the sky.

We pulled over and tried for some time exposures of the bridge and crescent moon.

A front had come through and the temperature was dropping and the wind was blowing very, very hard.

I have a big, heavy tripod and although I blocked the wind as much as I could with my body, I could see that many of the time exposures of the bridge were slightly blurry when blown up large on my computer.

These two photo came out the best of the bunch.