Channelside Street Car Station

Oftentimes when we go out to shoot, we are limiting ourselves to only one subject. Today, my group and I went on a trolley tour of Tampa. We did this last month and had so much fun we decided to make it a monthly meetup. We start at a different station and take a different route each time we do this and challenge ourselves to make as many different kind of images possible.

Our first stop today was the Channelside district. The trolley station is in the mid ground with the Marriot Hotel in the background. That's two members of my group in the foreground taking photos of the Embassy Suites Hotel. As you can see, Mother Nature cooperated and gave us some nice clouds and it was a nice day; not too hot.

As we got further into the shoot, one person would make a shot and then everyone would try to one-up him on his shot, but by shooting the same thing. It's challenging, educational and fun. I'll probably be posting more of these shots throughout the week.

Rear Entrance Walkway

This is the rear or beach entrance to The Don Cesar Hotel. I like the pink and white striped awnings. It sort of gives me the feeling of being in Paris for some strange reason.

In this area, we have 2 5* hotels; The Don Cesar and The Vinoy. Both were built during the same era. Both are extremely ornate and beautiful on the outside. Both are pink. During our hotel tour meetup, we have come to the conclusion that The Don has it all over the Vinoy.

At The Don, I was particularly impressed with the fresh, exotic flowers in all the hallways and entrances, the beautiful gardens in the back and, of course, the beach. The tanning beds on the beach give me the feeling of luxury beyond any of the other luxurious amenities offered by both hotels.

The atmosphere at The Don is exactly what you'd see in the movies. It's truly a very special hotel. If I were to stay there, I don't think I'd leave it during the entire vacation. There isn't anything better than this.

St Pete Beach

Yesterday my friends and I went on an architectural shoot. We went to the famous Don Cesar Hotel in St Pete Beach, the Ponce de Leon Hotel, where Babe Ruth used to have his breakfast when he was in town and the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel in St Petersburg.

We took many photos and had a very pleasant and productive day. This is one of the photos from the shoot. It is the view of beautiful St Pete Beach from one of the cupolas in the Don Cesar Hotel.

A shot of the entrance to the Don Cesar is above. I will be posting more as I get them processed.