Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Another view of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge taken from the North Pier Rest Area Park. This bridge always has fascinated me and it has only been recently that it doesn't scare me to drive over it. I used to be so afraid of this bridge. It doesn't seem that bad now.

I like the way this shot of the bridge is framed by the tree and the gravel near the shoreline, although it seems very far away. This is the effect one gets when using a the shortest end of my zoom. It makes things appear further away than they actually are. In doing that, it creates depth in a photo, as does the framing in the foreground. By framing both the top of the frame and the bottom, it creates balance.

This image was shot using my 55-250mm lens at 55mm. With the Canon crop factor, that would be 88mm or a moderate telephoto. The framing makes it appear further away. It was shot at 1/6000 @ 7.1 and 400 ISO in Aperture Priority mode. I used partial metering and metered off the sky.

Gorilla

I went to Busch Gardens again; this time in pursuit of a Chimpanzee photo that one of my stock agencies was looking for. Unfortunately for me, the Chimp never struck the pose the art director was looking for (head and shoulders profile with hand on chin, like he was thinking).

I did get some great shots anyway--especially of this magnificent Gorilla. I was standing next to 3 other female photographers and this Gorilla posed for us for a good 15 minutes or so. As you can see, he was looking right at the camera and kept changing positions as if he was modeling. I swear any minute, his keeper was going to ask us for a modeling fee.

Once he got tired of showing off, he moved to the side of his habitat where he's separated from the people by some thick glass. I'm sooooo glad that glass was thick! Someone in the crowd ticked him off--big time. Just as we were trying to inch our way up front for more shots of this amazingly powerful Gorilla, he spotted something in the crowd he didn't like. He walked back a few steps, then charged at the glass. I was so glad that glass held him because he wasn't a very happy camper. Get a look at those forearms!

Sunshine Skyway Bridge Panoramic

This is daybreak at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tierra Verde, FL. It spans between St Petersburg and Sarasota, FL.

It's span is 5.5 miles with a vertical clearance of 193 feet and the world's longest bridge with a cabled main span. Building began in 1982, and after a cost of $244 million dollars, it was dedicated in 1987. The bridge was built to replace the old structure after the freighter, MV Summit Venture collided with the original structure in 1980 sending over 1200 feet plunging into Tampa Bay killing 35 people.

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