Passe-A-Grille Sunset

Three friends and I went to Passe-A-Grille Tuesday evening to shoot Corey Ave and the downtown district. We started out on the beach just after sunset and had so much fun there, we didn't leave enough time to photograph the town before it got too late. This is one of the after sunset photos I made.

The following article about the History of Passe-A-Grille was taken directly from the Passe-A-Grille website. You can find the website here: http://visitpassagrille.com

"For 10,000 years, Indians hunted the praires and fished the waters of what later became Pass-A-Grille. The last group of Native Americans to settle in the Pinellas County area were the Tocobagas around 1,000 - 1,700 AD. This area was first visited by Europeans in 1528 when the Spanish Explorer, Panfilo de Narvaez anchored off Pass-A-Grille pass. Afterwards, the island was used as a camp ground for fisherman to obtain fresh water and to grill their catch. According to legend, it is thought that Pass-A-Grille derives it's name from the French Passe aux Grilleurs. In 1857, John Gomez self styled 'last of the pirates', began bringing excursionists here from Tampa which gave this area the distinction of perhaps being the oldest resort on Central Florida's West Coast. Zephaniah Phillips, the first homesteader settled here in 1886 and by the turn of the Century Pass-A-Grille had it's first hotel and a ferry boat service from what is now Gulfport. The town of Pass-A-Grille Beach was incorporated into the city of St. Petersburg Beach in 1957 and in 1989 a section of Pass-A-Grille was declared a National Historic District. "

Getting Cozy

Earlier this month, I went on a meetup at Honeymoon Island to shoot the sunset.

There weren't enough clouds in the sky to make an interesting sunset and I didn't want to come away with nothing, so the challenge was to find and create decent shots.

As you can tell by the way these two are covered up with their blanket, the weather wasn't too warm. It doesn't seem to be bothering them at all, though. Maybe it's just what they needed to get nice and cozy together.

It's really good to be coming out of my shell and getting out shooting again. Now if I can only get back into the swing of things and get caught up on my editing...

More of Ft Desoto Park

While getting my memory cards ready for my shoot last night, I found that I forgot I had some photos from last Sunday's Ft Desoto shoot. This was one that I almost missed.

It was made a little earlier than the previous post, probably an hour before sunset. I knew there'd be a marvelous sunset because of the beautiful clouds in the sky--if they didn't hide the sun, that is.

It's days like this that make me love Ft Desoto. Every time I go there, this is the atmosphere. It's always peaceful, quiet and I feel like I'm on my own private beach. Ft Desoto is spread out over so many miles that even on a busy weekend, there's plenty of beach for everyone. If you want to find that "private" solitude, there's a spot for everyone. On the other hand, if you're one of those people that like to people watch, and like to see many people on the beach, you can also find that there, too. It's just the perfect place.

It is also one of the only beaches you'll find that you can see the sunrise and the sunset from the same beach. It's a must visit if you're not from this area. If you are, then you already know about this beautiful place and have experienced all it has to offer.

Summertime at Ft Desoto

While at Ft Desoto the other evening, I saw this woman photographing something on the beach. I'm not sure if she was photographing the woman and boy walking in front of her, or just the beach in general.

For me, I saw a perfect shot with the Laughing Gulls flying all around her and the pink tinge in the clouds that can only be seen during sunset.

When photographing the sunset, we usually get mesmerized by the beauty of the sunset itself. Don't forget to turn around. You just might spot a much better image like this one. The light is warm, directional and the textures, forms and shapes are brought out like no other lighting.

For this image, the light was coming from the sun about a 90° angle to my subject which as previously mentioned, brought out the texture in the sand and sea grasses. I shot this image at 1/800 (to stop the motion of the birds in flight) at F5. Since there was a lot of light areas, I added 1 stop exposure compensation to keep the birds, skin tones and sky from being underexposed. For those of you who use point-n-shoot cameras, if you have a beach or snow mode, this would work well for this type of image. My ISO was set at 200 and I used my 55-250mm lens at 96mm. I used Aperture Priority mode and Partial metering.

Madeira Beach

It's that time again when everyone is thinking about vacation and the beach. We're already getting some pretty hot weather in Florida.

This shot was made on 5/2/2009 across from John's Pass on Madeira Beach, FL. As you can see, there are plenty of people on the beach already. One thing I can tell you for sure, none of these people are Floridians, they are all tourists. How do I know that, you ask. Easy, Floridians don't head to the beach until the water is at least 80 Deg F. The water was probably 72 Deg and the beginning of the month. This is fine for all the northerners whose water temperature never reaches above 65 deg. even in the summer.

It looks like a nice, warm, peaceful day and these 2 women sitting on the rocks appear to be just enjoying the sounds of the surf and watching everyone play. What a great day!

Szandra 2

Since I'm still working on the wedding edits from last week and I've been shooting or attending class this week, I'm going back through my files for tonight's blog.

This is another shot of Szandra. I posted one about 2 weeks ago from this same shoot. Szandra is a model from Hungary. She's in the states going to school.

As a model, she's very easy to work with. This is my first time with her and I only took a few shots. The shoot kept moving further and further from the equipment and I was getting a bit nervous leaving my equipment laying on the beach. I chose to "babysit" so the others could shoot, especially since I was satisfied with the shots I already took.

Last night, I shot a Quinceanera last night with one of my former group members. It went very well and the ceremony/celebration was beautiful. The best part of the deal is that as a second shooter, Jose has to do all the editing. What a deal! He says he'll send me some pix so I can post them.

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.

Cockle Shell

Do you remember the little nursery rhyme about what little girls and boys are made of? Have you ever wondered what Cockle shells are. Well, wonder no more. This is a genuine, Florida Cockle shell.

If you've been following my blog, you know I've been spending a lot of time on the beaches of Ft. Desoto lately trying to capture the elusive sun rising between the spans of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

After the sunrise is over, I leave East Beach for one of my favorite spots for capturing birds at North Beach. Ft Desoto is one of the best places to create awesome bird shots, and this time of year is perfect. It's not too hot, there are few people on the beach this early in the morning; mostly other photographers with the same idea and a few people just walking the beach for exercise.

North Beach was voted the #1 beach by Dr. Beach in 2005. This beach is pristine with its fine (as talc) white sand, beautiful sand dunes dot all around the beach and a gorgeous lagoon situated between the main beach and a little island or key. The key has a sand bar leading up to it that during low tide, one can walk right onto it to explore its beauty. Part of the key is a protected nesting site for both native and migrating birds, so we need to be careful not to go too far towards the end of key; however, the conservation area is well marked. We also need to carefully watch the tide coming in. It's not bad though, since it's a short distance if the tide covers the sand bar. The lagoon is only about 4 ft. deep at the deepest spot and Florida water rarely dips below 71 deg. F. Worse comes to worse, one can walk or swim back to the mainland.

Daybreak, Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Yet another trip to check where the sun would rise. I'll be doing this until I catch the sun rising right between the spans of this bridge.

This morning, though, I got a very pleasant surprise. I also caught the moon setting. In all the times I've been here, I've never seen the moon set over the bridge. It made me happy I didn't opt to sleep in today.

This image was taken from the turn-around on East Beach at Ft Desoto Park in Tierra Verde, FL.

John's Pass

John's Pass on Madeira Beach in Florida is a tough shoot, but with a little patience and a whole lot of walking and looking around, one can find some pretty terrific shots.

This is not an actual lighthouse, I don't think; but it's atop the Friendly Fisherman restaurant. In order to get this view from above, I went to a competing restaurant higher up on the boardwalk and went up to the roof of the parking garage.

It's a unique view, and one I didn't know about until a waitress in one of the many eateries on the boardwalk saw my camera and told me about it. That was an excellent tip!

It was pretty hazy out that day, and we all went up there to capture the sunset on Madeira Beach, but it was so hot, no one wanted to wait the extra hour. We all took what we got for images and left fairly quickly. I think it was something like 92 deg. F, if I can remember correctly. This was shot in mid August which is hot anywhere in the states at that time of year.

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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.