A trip to the zoo

Today was the coolest day in a long while so we decided to head over to the zoo and see the new white tigers. This is the first time I've been back to the zoo since I got all my new gear and I have to say, equipment does make a difference!

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Yard dogs

My wife and I were doing some work on the yard this morning when she noticed some strange flowers in one of the bushes. I ran into the house and got my new 50mm prime lense and extension tube and snapped off some shots. I'm not really sure what it is but it looks pretty cool.

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Turn to clear vision

I got up early this morning and headed to Fort DeSoto to help my friend Robert shoot the cover for his new book.

Before meeting Robert, I stopped at the North Fishing Pier and saw something you don't see every day - a boat about 85% submerged in the surf. This wasn't any little 12 foot backwater boat either, it was a cabin cruiser (I would guesstimate about 32' long).

After I finished with the spectacle of the sunk boat, I headed up to the North Beach and met Robert and his wife Dawn. While he was shooting his wife, I got a couple of shots off as well as a couple of 'setup shots' showing how Robert was taking the photos that will hopefully grace the cover of his first book.

Since this is the first day of the NFL season (yeah!) I had to leave about 9:30 or so to make sure I could get home in time to catch all of the pre-game shows, but on the way back to the cars, we came upon a Reddish Brown Egret and I couldn't pass up the opportunity so I put the birdy lens on and snapped off some shots.

All-in-all, a great morning. Go Vikings! :)

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Tampa Boat Show

My friend Robert was recently hired by the Tampa Chamber of Commerce to shoot the Tampa Boat Show and he asked me if I wanted to tag along. Never one to turn down an opportunity to take photos, I dragged myself out of bed at 5:30AM and headed over to Tampa!

We got there before sunrise and got some shots of the skyline from Tampa General Hospital on Davis Island. As the sun was coming up, we realized we were not going to get good light on the Convention Center so we trekked over to Jackson's - a local restaurant. The light was much better from there and we got some nice photos.

Alas, it was starting to get later in the morning and I had a lawn to mow so I had to cut out before making it inside the convention center itself for some detailed shots of the boats.

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After the storm

It's always a good time to hit the beach at dusk right after the storm for the sunsets are usually spectacular, tonight was no exception. I met Robert and Fred at Honeymoon Island and we weren't disappointed.

Before the show, I took the opportunity to try to get some macro shots of a sea shell. The shots came out "ok", as I was having problems getting tack sharp photos with my f/2.8 with an extension tube.

After the macro shots, Robert's wife Dawn threw some bread crumbs out and it was like we were in an Alfred Hitchcock movie - there were birds everywhere! Unfortunately, I still had my 2 stop neutral density AND polarizer filter on my wide-angle lense - leftover from my trip to Hillsborough River. ARGH! I ended up with a lot of throw-aways, but I did manage to snag a couple decent shots however.

The grand finale was a spectacular suncoast sunset - augmented by some menacing looking storm clouds. Another great day!

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Clearwater Beach

I woke up early this morning and headed down to Clearwater Beach to see what I could find. It was a beautiful morning and even though there weren't many people out, there were plenty of opportunities for shots.

After I got my shots, I decided to try a test of different processing software: Nikon Capture NX, Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS2. I processed the same 13 images in each piece of software and solicited opinions from some of my photo geek friends. The results were suprising. One person liked the Nikon photos, one person liked the Lightroom photos, and two people liked the CS2 photos. For what it's worth, these photos were processed using the Nikon Capture NX software. It's got some pretty nice features and I'm trying to determine if this is something that can replace Photoshop in my workflow. Lemme know what you think!

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Hillsborough River State Park

I woke up early this morning and made the hour long trek to the Hillsborough River State Park for something different to do. Along the way, it was pouring rain so it wasn't looking promising but once I got to the park, the weather cooperated and I didn't have any serious rain to worry about.

Once there, I immediately made my way over to the rapids. OK, if you live in Oregon you know these aren't real rapids, but it's the best we get in central Florida! Using a polarizer, 2 stop neutral density filter and an f/22 aperture I was able to get the silky effect of rushing water (and doesn't it make the rapids look more intimidating?) :)

After snapping shots of the rapids, I walked the trail for awhile and found all kinds of spiders in their webs. Because it had just rained prior to my arrival, there was also plenty of water drops hanging from leaves, branches and palm frons so I attempted some macro shots of those as well. Wow, even the slightest breeze can wreak havoc on macro photography!

Finally, they have this really cool suspension bridge that spans the Hillsborough River. Unfortunately, by this time in the morning the sun was starting to play tricks on my photos making it nearly impossible to get a properly exposed image. While my shot doesn't really do it justice, this bridge is a truly interesting and unique structure. All in all a very good trip!

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