Sunrise, St Petersburg, FL

St Pete Sunrise

I'm very fortunate to live in downtown St Petersburg. This is what I wake up to in the morning. There's no better way to say, "Good morning", than getting greeted by nature every morning. It's a wonderful way to start the day happy.

St Petersburg could live up to the nickname of Sun City, however there is already a Sun City not far from us. It is boasted that there are only 6 days a year on an average that the sun doesn't come out. No wonder it was a retirement city a long time ago. Now, the median age is 39, so it no longer fits that description.

St Pete, or The Burg, as it is affectionately known to its residents has a thriving young community. It has also a large art community. This shot is only 2 blocks from Central Ave., our "Main St.". Taking a walk down Central, you will find many art galleries, quaint boutiques, and restaurants from ethnic and any type of food you can imagine. Food prices range from fast food pricing to elegant pricing. There is something for everyone, including hot dog carts on many corners. St Pete also has an active night scene as well. It is also minutes to the beaches, since it's a peninsula. It sits between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It doesn't get any better than that.

If you are ever in the area, check it out!

Sunrise Over the Skyway

I have been doing this shoot every year since my friend, Linda Weekley, told me about it in 2006.

Once a year, the sun rises between the spans of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tierra Verde. I get this shot from East Beach in Ft Desoto. It happens only for 2 days a year, and it's never the same time.

That means that starting in October, I have to check where the sun rises so I can estimate when it'll be right there between the spans. I go probably 2 or 3 times in October, then once a week, down to every couple days to catch it just right. I got lucky this year; my friend, Jim, was there yesterday and let me know today would be the day. Jim is a member of my photography group, and they're all involved with this as well. As a matter of fact, it's become a tradition with the group. We all go out there for sunrise, then go to work from there if it's on a weekday.

I just made it on time today. I usually go at dawn, but today was the day the time changed (from Daylight Savings Time) and I got confused. I got there just before it rose. These are the photos I got from when I got there until it was just right.

If you go back in my blogs, you can compare this year's with each previous year. It's pretty cool.

It's still as exciting to see it today and it was back in 2006 when I caught it for the first time.

Cocoa Beach Sunrise

I've been so busy editing photos from a wedding I did in Cocoa Beach, that I have neglected my blog. For this, I do apologize. Hopefully, things will return to normal again.

This sunrise was made the morning after the wedding. I particularly like the way the sun reflects on the water and the color.

I've never been to Cocoa Beach before and for me, I wasn't all that impressed. It's more suited for the younger crowd.

Even the hotel lounge was too loud. Before bed, my assistant, Suzanne, and I decided to have a drink and wind down from the hectic day of photographing the wedding. She was looking forward to a nice, quiet glass of wine, while I was looking forward to a Bloody Mary. It was so loud in the bar and everyone was smoking. Luckily, Florida liquor laws allow drinks to be taken outside of the bar. We went outside and sat by the pool where we were able to have our drinks, conversation and wind down. We then headed to bed and got a good night's sleep before traveling back home.

I only took a few photos on the beach since once the sun came up, it was hot, hot, hot; even that early in the morning. The drive wasn't too bad; but I was glad to get back to St Petersburg.

Dawn at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Another day having to get up to check where the sunrise is and still no sunrise! Now I have to get up again tomorrow. I don't want to miss that window.

I do like this morning's dawn, though. I'm happy with this shot. I sure wish I could post it larger so it isn't so compressed. I caught it today during low tide and the water looked like glass. I think this is the first time I've ever seen the bridge reflected in the water in this spot.

I like the color, too. Nothing was done in post processing except straightening. I have to do that to all my photos where the horizon shows. I have astigmatism (I think that's how it's spelled), so everything I see as straight is crooked.

Setting used for this shot were 15 seconds at F8, -1/3 exposure compensation, in aperture priority with partial metering off the water, at ISO 200 to keep the noise down as much as possible. I used my 55-250mm IS lens.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge Sunrise

This is the time of year when the sun rises right between the spans of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Every year, around this time I start going there to check out where the sun is because it only rises between the spans for 2 days from this spot. Every year it's at a different time to complicate things even further.

I went for the first time on October 27th. It is impossible to tell where it rose because it was hidden by the heavy cloud cover. If I can get up in the morning, I'm going to go back to check it out.

Unfortunately, the jpg compression took a lot of the beautiful color and contrast in the image away.

This image was shot on a tripod, at ISO 200 to keep the noise down, for 1/25th sec at F4 using partial metering in aperture priority. Nothing other than straightening the horizon was done in post processing with Adobe Lightroom 2.5.

Safety Harbor Shoreline

This beautiful scene was shot the same morning as I shot the pier at sunrise. This little part of the shoreline is to the left of the pier. I've seen this many times, but during the day it looks kind of bland. It just goes to show you how the various qualities of light can affect a scene.

When you've found a beautiful landscape, you should always photograph it at different times of day. You'll never know what beauty you can find otherwise.

Settings for this scene were as follows: It was shot at 6:50 am, just 20 minutes before sunrise at ISO 200 for 13 seconds at F16. I chose ISO 200 so I'd get less digital noise (grain) and F16 for two reasons; I wanted to be sure everything was in focus from near to far and I wanted a slow shutter speed to blur the water and make it smooth. I used Aperture Priority mode so I could set the aperture, with 0 exposure compensation and partial metering on the grass (which is as close to 18% gray as I could get. Since the light was changing very fast, I set my White Balance to Auto; not that it makes a whole lot of difference when shooting RAW. The focal length was 18mm with my 18-55mm lens.

Rainbow

This is a very strange rainbow. This is all there is to it; no arc, just this short rainbow in the sky. It wasn't even raining, and hadn't rained; but it started to rain soon after we spotted the rainbow. How weird is that?

Sunday morning, a few people from 2 of my combined meetup groups went to Ft Desoto planning on shooting daybreak, the sunrise, then going over to the other end and shoot the early morning birds.

We arrived at East Beach at Ft Desoto at around 6:00 am. There were 6 of us brave people who dared to get up early on a Sunday morning in hopes of getting a great sunrise. That we did. I wish I could display all the photos right here. It was a perfect morning. Lots of beautiful clouds and gorgeous light. We got amazing shots! If you want to see them, they are in the July album on my Facebook account. You can find my link here: Check out the other photos and let me know what you all think.

After the sun rose, we drove over to North Beach on the other side of Mullet Key, (but still in Ft Desoto), to try to catch the birds feeding. I have a favorite spot that I usually go to where I'm sure to get plenty of birds. As luck would have it, there weren't many birds there, but we did get lucky to see and photograph a Reddish Egret during his white phase. We don't see Reddish Egrets everyday like we do with the Great Egret and the Great Blue Herons, but to see a Reddish Egret in his white phase is a rarity. What a catch! We'd have missed him if a kind lady didn't come over to let us know he was there. We got some great shots of him that I'm still editing and even watched his dance.

They are the funniest birds when they're feeding. You'll see them stand very still until they spot their prey, then all of a sudden they run around in every direction, jump up and down, and spread their wings before going in to grab their fish. They use their wings to shade their appearance so the fish doesn't know they're there, but I don't know what the dance is for. It's the strangest behaviour and a blast to watch.

Watch my Facebook page over the next few days if you want to see the photos of the dancing Egret.

Reddish Egret

What a day we had today! My friends and I went to North Shore Park in St Petersburg for the sunrise and our plans were to go directly out to Ft Desoto in Tierra Verde, to photograph birds and meet another friend there.

We planned to leave Ft Desoto around 9:00 am. After the sunrise, we started to drive to Ft Desoto, and kept seeing things to shoot that we just couldn't resist. With all that traveling and stopping, we didn't arrive at Ft Desoto until after 9:00. Most of the birds had their breakfast and were napping or roosting.

That didn't stop us from finding a few to shoot. This beautiful Reddish Egret was very obliging and let us all get some great shots of him. If you've never seen a Reddish Egret forage for food, you've been missing some very curious behavior.

They stand really still in the water while they look around. All of a sudden, you'll see them run around in all different directions. Then they put their head down while holding their wings semi outspread to shade the reflections on the water and to disguise themselves to the fish. Once they've made their catch, the whole scenario begins again.

Oh yes, the sunrise was beautiful. Here's a little peak!

Sunshine Skyway Bridge Sunrise Check Up #2

We went over to check up on the position of the sun as it rises yesterday. This first one is a look at it in total darkness.

The next shot was taken at dawn.

The third shot, almost at sunrise. And finally, the sun rose. It still isn't between the spans, but I'll be going back to check it on Monday. Hopefully, it'll be a bit closer.

In 2006, it rose between the spans on Dec. 2nd, and in 2007 the date was Nov. 15th. It appears that it's about 2 weeks earlier every year.

It only lasts for about 2 days, so we have little chance to catch it until we have to wait another year to try it again.

Northshore Daybreak

One of the best things about living in Florida is the beaches as we all know. I live about 5 miles of Northshore Park which is on the banks of Tampa Bay.

Saturday, a couple friends and I went to the park to check out the sunrise. We didn't have much of a sunrise, but daybreak was awesome, as you can see here.

Northshore is in St Petersburg and runs just adjacent to downtown and across from The Pier. Since St Petersburg's beginning, The Pier has always been the place for everyone to meet, shop, enjoy the sunrise, beaches and everything else that goes along with being in a tourist area. The Pier juts out into the bay for about 1/4 mile. It's an inverted pyramid design and the third pier built since St Petersburg was founded.

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Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Every year the sun rises between the spans of this bridge for only 2 days. The problem is, we never know which 2 days it is. In 2006, it rose between the spans on Dec. 2nd and in 2007, it was on Nov. 15th.

So, every year I start going to my favorite spot to check it out and try to guess when it's going to rise perfectly in the center of the spans.

I went out this morning and it's not even close, so I'll check it in about a month. However, we had some really nice clouds at daybreak when I captured this image.

It's too bad the bridge is being painted because the spans aren't lit up. It's so beautiful lit up. It'll be a while before it gets done, so it looks like it won't be lit this year when I finally catch it in the right place once again.

If you'd like to see a larger image, just click on the image.

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