Sea Oats

Sea Oats are one of the most beneficial weeds here in Florida. In fact, they are so beneficial the state of Florida has protected them.

They are cultivated and used in sand dunes to control beach erosion. The coastal cities of Florida spend millions of dollars every year replenishing sand lost to our many hurricanes. Most communities have tried to solve that problem by building sand dunes to prevent sand loss.

The hurricane season takes its toll on most of Florida each and every year. This year, we've had a couple damaging hurricanes already and the hurricane season isn't over yet. It still has 2 months to go.

So far this year I've been pretty lucky. I live in St Petersburg, which is a peninsula off the mainland on the central west coast. We haven't taken a direct hit as yet. Hopefully, we'll finish off the rest of hurricane season without too much damage.

When visiting Florida on your vacation please remember not to disturb our sand dunes, don't pick the Sea Oats, and don't feed the birds or alligators. Enjoy our state, come visit and leave nothing behind but footprints.

Immature Muscovy Ducks

It's amazing how quickly these little guys can grow. These 3 Muscovy Ducks were just hatched about 2 months ago and already they're nearly as big as their mother.

Every time one of the hens has another brood I'm excited and sad at the same time. This brood started out as 17 hatchlings. These 3 are the only ones left that the 'gators didn't eat. It sure is a cruel world out there. Thank goodness we're at the top of the food chain. As a mother, it makes me sad, but every creature on earth is here for a reason, and to quote another cliche, only the strong survive.

The hens are so proud when these little guys are hatched. They bring them right over to my yard to show them off. They know no one here is going to hurt them. The duckling in the middle with the white chest was the only all yellow duckling in the brood. Actually, it's the only all yellow Muscovy duckling I've ever seen. He got his dark feathers as quickly as his brothers and sisters, but I never expected a white chest. Maybe mom met a traveling salesman just passing through. :)

If you've never seen a Muscovy, they're not very pretty ducks, but they make up for it by being so friendly. They show absolutely no fear of humans. Maybe it's because of their size. I don't really know for sure. They don't quack or make any noise, either. The drakes have this very low air sound, while the hens sound a lot like a hatchling; just a soft whistling sound. They're really quiet.

I've watched them communicate with one another and they seem to have conversations with their head, tails and neck. They face one another and move their necks in and out while bobbing their heads and wiggling their tales. It's pretty interesting and funny to watch them.

Another hen just hatched a small brood of 5 in my Amaryllis bed. So far, they're all together but I don't know for how long. I know those 'gators are just waiting around the corner for a nice duckling dinner. :(

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First Baptist Church

While out after the class on Tuesday we spotted this church and couldn't remember ever seeing it lit up like this before. The lights kept changing colors and it looked so beautiful, we just had to stop and capture the beautiful color with these lights.

We were all standing across the street trying to get the best vantage point to show it off, when these 2 guys with masks on came over and asked what we were doing. It turned out that this is a project they're doing just for fun. They call themselves the "Light Bandits" and identify themselves only as Light Bandit #1 and Light Bandit #2. It seems they will be picking an unknown place around town to light up once a week. They are featured on You Tube and have a My Space site as well. You can find them on My Space here.

I gave them my card and asked them for a link to their site and let them know we'll send on the photos that we took to them for their project.

The red and white streaks on the street in front of the church are the results of cars traveling by the church captured with a slow shutter speed.

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Tampa Skyline Pano & Explosion

Last night I attended another class with Jim Sykes. This time it was on night photography and skylines.

This shot is of the Tampa skyline as seen from Davis Island. Eight of us took the class and learned a lot of new tricks and techniques. We experimented with doing several zoom explosions which, at best were interesting.

This explosion was taken from the same spot. I used a 30 second exposure and zoomed in during the last half of the exposure. Of the different tries, I like this one the best. The splashes of colors is what attracted me to this one.

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Gary Shoots the Sunset

My club has been so active lately, it's nearly impossible to keep up. Our regular Monday night shoot this week was at Honeymoon Island in Dunedin, FL.

After walking the trails and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, we went out on the beach to photograph the sunset. With hurricane Ike being so wide, it has caused some incredible sunsets with beautiful waves out on the Gulf.

This is one of my friends and fellow club member, Gary. He's all set up for a beautiful sunset shot. We all got some incredible shots on Monday. This is just one of them.

If you like my work, please comment. If you'd like to see more of my work, visit my website here.

EarthDance 2008

Saturday, a few of my friends and I participated in the 2008 EarthDance in Safety Harbor. The event was simulcasted in 300 cities and 42 countries by Verizon. EarthDance was held as a dance for peace in conjunction with the many activities commemorating 9/11.

We had an art and photography booth there and I donated a free location portrait.

I originally got into photography seriously when my children were into dance, gymnastics and drum corps. I wanted to be able to take great photos of them to have for a lifetime. Well, due to too many moves, I no longer have the photos I took, but I still have the memories.

In addition to my photography courses, I also took a specialized course called, "Action, Dance and Sports". This is the first time I've had a chance to photograph dance since my kids grew up. I guess I haven't forgotten all that I learned. I was pretty happy with the way these turned out--especially since they were taken at night, handheld, outside on a portable stage. Lucky for me I was able to get close enough that I could use my fast lens.

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Patriotic Sisters

These two sisters were all dressed up to participate in the 2008 9-11 Peace Walk in Safety Harbor, Florida, to honor the lost souls from the 9/11 World Trade Towers incident. They walked a mile with their parents after attending a ceremony which included fire-fighters from Safety Harbor who worked at Ground Zero. The looks on their little innocent faces said it all for me.

If you like my work, please comment. If you'd like to see more, visit my group's website here or my personal website by clicking here.

Canna Lily Leaf

Sometimes I like to photograph patterns. This is the leaf of a Canna Lily. I like the lines and curves. I tried a crop of just the leaf and I'm not sure if I like it, although it makes an interesting graphic.

This photo was taken in Safety Harbor on Monday evening while waiting for the rest of the members of my group to come. I like to go there early before the rest get there so I can concentrate on my photography. Most of the time I'm with the group I spend either just talking shop, or answering technical questions regarding photography technique, which I don't mind. It's nice to share knowledge with other photographers. We all learn something that way, and it improves our own technique.

If you like my work, please leave a comment--even if you don't like it, or see if something can be improved. I'm always open to suggestions.

Thanks for viewing!

Sensitive Brier Plant with Honey Bee

This Sensitive Brier plant is got its name because when its leaves are touched, they close up.

This was shot during one of my meetups with the Florida State Photography Meetup Group. We went on a Photography Hike at the Weedon Island Nature Preserve. The hike consisted of a photography talk given by Dave, one of the biologists at the preserve. He went over various tips and techniques and then we went on a short hike through one of the trails.

Almost everyone is familiar with the commonly kept potted plant called Sensitive Brier (Schrankia uncinata) or Touch-Me-Not, which closes its leaves when touched. It is a type of shrub that is not very cold-hardy and so doesn't grow wild in most of this country. We do have an equivalent plant called the sensitive brier (Schrankia uncinata), since its habit is to sprawl along the ground like other prickly vines and briers. Just like the sensitive plant, this brier has small pink/magenta puffy flowers and touch-responsive leaves. It also has small thorns, and so it has another line of defense against anything brushing against it. For more information about this pretty little flower click here.

I am fascinated by this pretty little flower, about the size of a quarter in diameter because I like its color and texture.

Zebra Long-winged Butterfly

I went over to my friend's house in Odessa, FL on Thursday and had a great time. Early in the evening, just before sunset, we went for a walk to move her horses for the night.

While I was waiting for her to get the horses, I had a chance to walk around a bit outside the pasture and spotted this beautiful Zebra Long-winged butterfly (Heliconius charithonia). Zebras are also known as Zebra Heliconian. They have the distinction of being declared the official butterfly of Florida.

Zebras can be found in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida and feed on the Yellow Passionflower. They are also unusual because the eat pollen as well as sip nectar, which contributes to their long life (about 3 months). They also roost in large groups, returning to the same roost every night.

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Female Boat-tailed Grackle

This female Boat-tailed Grackle was just perched on this railing at The Pier in St. Petersburg seemingly waiting to have her photo taken. Females look quite different from the males. The males are all black with a sort of iridescent shine to their feathers when the sun hits it. They are also much larger than the females.

Grackles can be found most anywhere in Florida usually close to people so they can steal a snack or two. They are resident along the coast from New Jersey south and west to Louisiana; also inland in peninsular Florida. They prefer marshlands both fresh and salt water.

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Brown Pelican

This Brown Pelican was just hanging around on these pilings at The Pier in St Petersburg. If you've never seen one, they're pretty big birds, maybe 12-15 pounds. One would never know they're endangered if you live in Florida. They seem to be everywhere, and fairly easy to photograph, since they're not afraid of people and not skittish at all.

On The Pier, there's this little bait house where you can buy fish to feed these guys. They'll gather around right at your feet waiting for a hand out. That's part of the reason they're endangered, unfortunately. People have been giving them handouts for so long, they've become lazy to find food for themselves.

It's got to a point on some of the beaches in the summertime when all the tourists and snow birds (people that live up north that come to Florida for the winter) have gone home that we've had to resort to feeding them to keep them from starving to death. Every day around 1:00 on Spa beach, you'll see a truck come in with food for the Pelicans. The volunteers stay on the beach for about an hour feeding huge flocks of them along with a few Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons. It's quite a sight to see hundreds of birds just waiting for their lunch. That's one of the reasons it's against the law to feed the birds. People think their doing a good thing, when they're actually doing them harm.

Please if you visit Florida, don't feed the birds--heed the signs. They're there to protect our wild life, and to keep them from stealing your food when you picnic.

If you like my work, please comment. If you would like to see more, visit my website by clicking here.

St Petersburg Skyline

Tonight our meetup group had 2 meetups at the same time. Our usual one at Safety Harbor, FL and one at the St Petersburg Pier. I went to the St Petersburg Pier trying to catch a great sunset shot. Well, we got a bit ripped off on the sunset, since it was too hazy for us to see and capture it.

Instead, I waited around a while to see what twilight might bring. This one's not too shabby. I shot this one from the opposite side of the The Pier than I usually shoot from. I usually shoot from the right side, so I can catch a few shots of the Vinoy Hotel. While I shot a few from there, I also shot from the restaurant side and was able to capture this one. As you can see, there is a little color in the sky, but not very much with the reds and yellows. Actually, there wasn't any yellow at all. I'm anxious to see what the rest of my group shot. There were 18 of us in all.

If you like my work, please comment. If you'd like to see more, visit my website here.

Thanks for looking!
Loyce

Gulf Fritillary

Yesterday, I was at a camera store talking with one of the sales people and he mentioned the difference of using a regular UV filter vs. a digital UV filter on the front of my lens.

After some experimenting and actually seeing for myself how the light was refracted on the regular UV filters, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the difference between the two.

When I left the camera store, I went to my favorite spot to shoot butterflies in Safety Harbor to prove it to myself. I had only 1 digital UV filter on my wide-angle lens and I switched it to my 75-300mm zoom to shoot the above photo. Prior to exchanging the filter, I was in the habit of not using this lens at its full zoom because it wasn't the sharpest lens. I was always wishing I could afford better lenses. What a difference in sharpness. It's like light and day.

The above photo (on the bottom) was taken hand-held in the wind with the digital UV filter on this lens, while the photo on the top was taken with a regular UV filter on my lens under the same conditions.

Even an untrained eye can readily see the difference.

If you like my work, please comment. If you'd like to see more, visit my website by clicking here.

Loyce

Ybor City Walk

I've been playing around trying to get the "photojournalist" out of me by trying to be more creative. I'm not sure how this is going to work out, but this is one of my latest experiments.

This is a study in lines and textures. It's a portion of the Movico 20 sign/marque for the theater at Ybor Centro in Ybor City, Tampa, FL.

I like the various curves of the marque, balanced with just a bit of the siding on the building, showing a little brick and a partial palm tree. I believe the round-looking this is supposed to be a movie reel. This is gorgeous lit up and I'll have to try it once more at night to show the lights.

I've also been experimenting with different processing techniques, mainly the grunge look which seems so popular these days. Here is an example of the look. I really need your opinion about this. The original version is the lighter version. The man is a homeless man and he's creating flowers from palm fronds. He charges for them. I need to give him credit, since he's not panhandling. He's giving you something for a donation.

I think since he's homeless, he looks too clean. So, I gave the image a grunge look to make it appear more realistic.



Which version do you prefer?

If you like my work, please leave a comment. If you would like to see more of it, please visit my website here.

Thanks for looking.

Loyce

A Little Bit of Yesterday

On Saturday, August 23rd, 2008, I participated in Scott Kelby's (Photoshop User TV personality) World Photo Walk. There were 44 countries and 260 American Cities represented in this photo walk. Each group was limited to 50 participants, and each location conducted a 2-hour walk.

I walked with Dave Cross, another Photoshop User TV personality) in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida. Our group had 51 walkers including Dave Cross. We were instructed to split up and walk around the city for 2 hours, but since we were having a tropical storm, we had to be prepared to duck into someplace to stay out of the rain should we get a sudden downpour.

We were lucky, since the rain pretty much held out for the rest of the day. There were a few sprinkles, but not enough to keep us from walking. I covered my camera with a plastic Zip Lock bag when it started to rain.

My main objective was to shoot something that said Ybor City, without shooting what everyone else was shooting.

This photo was taken from outside an antique clothing shop. I framed it to show the turn-of-the century shoes along with a few accessories. It was difficult dealing with reflections, but by holding the camera very close to the glass, I was able to get rid of the reflections while still maintaining sharpness and my chosen composition. I shot just a bit over 1 Gb of photos and this one is one of my favorites. The lighting, since it was overcast, was perfect for showing detail and had very good saturation. You can see more of the photos from this walk by clicking here.

Ybor City is an historical section of Tampa built around the cigar industry. It is also a popular night spot among the youth culture of Tampa Bay. At one time, it was pretty dangerous to go into Ybor at night due to the high crime rate and car thefts.

Mayor Pam Iorio's pet project is to clean up Ybor City and make it a safe place to go at night. To date, she's got the crime rate down by 70%. There are street security cameras on nearly every corner that are monitored, as well as walking security. The parking garage has cameras on every floor and walking security as well. People are finally coming back into this part of the city.

If you like my work, please leave a comment. If you'd like to see more, please visit my website by clicking here.

Thanks for looking,

Loyce

Gulf Fritillary

Gulf Fritillary butterflies are, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful butterflies around. Lucky for me, they're very common in Florida and can be seen year 'round.

This one was captured while on my regular Monday evening meetup in Safety Harbor, FL. This meetup is about 80% social with a little bit of shooting here and there.

I try to get there early so I have some time to shoot before the crowd arrives. We started this meetup in April with 5 of our group members attending. It has grown to maybe 30 members on an average showing up every Monday evening. It's a great way to get to know one another better and to exchange tips and techniques with each other. I've learned a lot from these members--some complete novices and some of them pros.

We always end the meetup with a large group of us going over to the Taste Cafe for a bite to eat or something to drink. Robin, the owner of the Taste, has had to add more help on Monday evenings, but always makes us feel welcome. The food is great, too.

If you like my work, please leave a comment, and if you'd like to see more, visit my website by clicking here. If you live in the Tampa Bay area, and would like to join our Meetup Group, you can find the group here.

Loyce

Ybor Centro

Wednesday night, my friends from my club and I went to a class given by my friend, Jim Sykes, who is an accomplished photographer with a studio in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida.

Just before the class, I was walking around enjoying the city and the old architecture. This building marks the center of the city. Ybor City is not really a city but an older section of Tampa. The city of Tampa was founded by Cuban immigrants who brought the cigar making industry to Tampa.

As you can see by the sign on this building, there are 20 theaters in this center as well as many quaint shops. It doesn't really come alive until nighttime when there are literally hundreds of people walking around enjoying the night life. It's a completely different atmosphere during the day.

If you like my work, I'd love to hear from you. Please leave a comment. To see more of my work, visit my website by clicking here. Thanks for viewing.

Loyce

Guess What's on the Dinner Menu

I've seen Herons and Egrets eat a lot of things, but this dinner takes the cake!

This Great Blue Heron caught a Sting Ray for dinner. It was a great time watching him try to swallow it. I just kept watching that tail and wondering how he could avoid getting stung. It didn't seem to bother him however, because he managed to eat the whole thing in one gulp.

This one was photographed in Safety Harbor, FL at the Safety Harbor Marina. The tide was out, so there were a lot of birds feeding. Low tide is the best time to catch these magnificent birds out doing what they do best and at close enough proximity to create a good shot.

If you like my work and would like to see more of it, please check out my website by clicking here. Don't forget to let me know what you think.

Loyce

Grapes and Palms

Just another experiment with HDR. This one was taken at sunset during our regular Monday Walk-Around Meetup in Safety Harbor, FL. The sky was actually this color and the clouds were just amazing.

I made several shots of these clouds and at one point there was a very faint rainbow shooting out just above these clouds. Unfortunately, it was very faint and although I tried, I just couldn't capture it.

It was really strange to see a rainbow, since there was no rain. I'm still trying to figure that out. I've never seen a rainbow appear without being precluded by rain.

The magenta sky this evening was magnificent. Florida has the most amazing clouds.

If you enjoy my work and would like to see more of it, visit my website here.