Today when I went out to take shots of the morning fog it started clearing early so I drove north and found myself at Jenkins Creek again. As I drove into the parking lot, lo and behold a bald eagle flew by! He circled around and perched at the top of the tallest tree around and was soon joined by his mate. This shot was taken just as she was moving from the lower branch to move beside him on the upper branch. I know that it was just yesterday when I sent you the portrait of the rescue eagle from Homosassa but seeing these magnificent birds in the wild was too exciting not to make them the photo of the day. This shot was made using a 300 mm lens with a 1.7x teleconverter, so effectively a 500 mm lens.]]>
It's a great place to see and learn about manatees but they also have a great collection of native birds of Florida. Most of them are rescue animals that have some physical disability that prevents them from flying away. There are three or four bald eagles all of whom have lost a part of their wings and so they flap madly when going from the top of a log to the ground but don't have enough airworthiness to get over the chain-link fence. The eagles always look angry to me. I don't know if it's because I empathize with their captivity or because I think they don't like to have their photo taken.]]>
cocktail party by neighbors and decided to bring flowers since they said they had every possible kind of booze and hors de oeuvres anyone could want. I went to the local farmers market this morning where a local orchid grower has a stall. For $5.00 I got this phalaenopsis hybrid. Haven't photographed beautiful orchids in a while and since it was such a vibrant pink I decided to try a white background. I like this one a lot.]]>
to Pine Island Beach State Park which is the closest sand beach on the gulf. It is perhaps ten miles from our house. When we arrived, we immediately heard a chorus of drums playing an interesting rhythm and I went to investigate. There were about ten drummers playing on the beach in a semi-circle, setting the beat with their hands on various toned drums. Two women danced to the music; the one pictured used the two multi-hued blue scarves to accent her moves. The entire group looked like a bunch of hippies lost in a time warp but they were having a ball. An interesting chance encounter.]]>
of our house on top of the red lava rocks since we bought the house 6 years ago and I never really looked at them. Sure they looked nice and filled a spot in the landscaping but they were just... there. This evening as I was sitting on the front steps enjoying the last rays of the setting sun I noticed the great texture and arrangement of the pieces. The low sun angle was just right to emphasize the weather-beaten texture of the wood so I grabbed my camera and made several shots. This was the best one, converted to black-and-white again using Silver Efex Pro.]]>
In the late 70's and early 80's, I worked for Block China Corp. who imported china and crystal primarily from Portugal and sold to upscale department stores and gift shops. The brand of the full lead crystal was Atlantis made by Crisal and in workmanship and style it was similar to Waterford if perhaps a little less traditional. During a visit to the US, one of the factory owner's sons gave a set of crystal to Rose Ann and I. It happens that this was not any ordinary stemware. Itinerant Venetian glass craftsman had visited the factory and had made these stems along with giftware items using the factory's glass. The set that Antonio gave us includes four each of water, red wine, white wine, champagne flute, sherbet, and cordial. Shown in the photo are the red wine (left) and white wine. Of course, Rose Ann never lets us use them because they are irreplaceable. She did let me photograph them provided I was very careful. They made it back into the breakfront undamaged and cleaner.]]>
This shot is the beveled glass in our front door, looking out to the street. I've been fascinated by the doors since we bought the house. They really are a nice piece of work. Even though the shot was taken late in the afternoon, the colors out in the street were distracting and the story is the shape of the pattern so I converted the shot to black and white in Silver Efex Pro.]]>
I finally got to go for a bike ride late this afternoon. Since it was my first ride in about two months, I took it easy and road the five miles to Weeki Wachee Preserve. When I stopped to see if there was anything to photograph, I propped the bike against this big hunk of limestone. The bright white of the smooth leather seat contrasting against the stark shadow on the rough surface of the boulder caught my attention. I shot this with my iPhone 4 and with a bit of Lightroom and Photoshop processing and B/W conversion in Silver Efex Pro, arrived at the result you see.
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Today it was bright and sunny and I wanted to get a panoramic shot of the golf course late in the day with shadows emphasizing the contours of the course. So at around 5pm I went to where I thought I could get a nice vista of the course with the lake and what did I find but a pair of sandhill cranes working the water's edge in front of the green. These birds are about four feet tall and have a bright red patch of feathers on their foreheads. Around here they are usually found in breeding pairs that hatch two chicks a year. They have a very loud, raucous call that can be heard for quite a distance.]]>
at about 5:15 pm, I was still looking for the day's shot. I had tried the golf course, a sundial, Pickle Ball action shots, Spanish Moss, and an orange tree but none of the shots were good/interesting enough. Then I saw this cluster of oak leaves that were bright red and green. A little exaggeration in Lightroom produced today's shot- an addition to my abstract portfolio.]]>
It didn't start out to be. I took a great shot of a yellow golf ball highlighted with a ray of sunlight among some brown,
dried leaves in our yard. (Our house in Florida sits next o the fifth green of one of the golf courses and we get a lot of balls in the yard.) I was happy with the shot and thought I was done for the day. Then I went to the fitness center and took my D80 because I'm trying to get in the habit of always having a camera with me. There, in front of the building in a small flower bed were white and red snap dragons and in the next bed over these white hybrid irises(?). I had just come down from NJ where the weather had been cold, snowy and rainy and it was such a delight to see these flowers blooming, like springtime! So, out came the camera and the golf ball lost to the iris.
It may not be an orchid, but it is my photo of the day.
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