Sweet Suite

Hockey is back in Hockey Bay USA, and we gathered up a bunch of other hockey fans and pooled our money together and rented out a suite at the St. Pete Times Forum to take in a night of pre-season hockey between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Detroit Red Wings.

Watching hockey from a suite is an experience to say the least, for the view is outstanding, plus throw in a fully stocked refrigerator, a full buffet of food, closed-circuit television, leather seats, and the best, a private bathroom.

	1	2	3	T
DETROIT RED WINGS	0	2	2	4
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING	0	0	1	1

Even though the hometown team lost, it was still a great evening of hockey, food and fun in the Bay.

On Location Workshop: Tampa Bay

We met up with Bill this past Saturday, coming all the way over from Houston, Texas for another day-long, on-location workshop. Bill is a current student of mine at the Perfect Picture School of Photography, and he currently is studying creative photography. Bill was an outstanding student, and took to seeing the world around him from a new creative perspective, and quickly was appreciating his new found love of photography.

For Bill's personal workshop, we started the workshop on Sand Key, made our way down the coast to the Suncoast Sea Bird Sanctuary, over to the swamps in Lake Tarpon and ended our day in downtown Tampa. We covered several topics, from ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture, Depth of Field, Rule of Thirds, Composition, Backgrounds, Perspective, Applied Motion, Macro Photography, Line, Pattern, Storytelling, Portraits, Focus Selection, Lighting, Picture In Picture, and general photography techniques.

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Learn More About Our On Location Workshop In Tampa Bay
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It was a long day for sure, and with the wealth of information Bill gained, he summed it up best with "I really enjoyed the time we spent at all the locations and your willingness and ability to share your knowledge. You are a great teacher and really appreciate your availability".

(Click on the thumbnails for a larger photo)

Sea Shell

A few months ago, I was alerted by Alamy that one of my photos had sold. Problem was, I had no idea who had purchased it, or where it was going to be used. Still made me feel good knowing that my work was out there and being seen by many.

Fast-forward to this past weekend, when Bill from Houston came to visit and to participate in a personal one-on-one photography workshop with me, and he informed me that he recognized my "Sea Shell" photo in the guest book that is in every room in just about every hotel in the Tampa Bay area.

Sure enough, Bill brought the book down and there on page 24 was my sea shell, as well as appearing on the Table of Contents page. Pretty cool if you ask me!

To view an excerpt of the book, Click Here

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To view the entire book online, visit the Clearwater Beach Guest Informant

Dolphin Watching

After a long day at the beach yesterday, we decided to relax, and what a better way then to visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater Beach to watch the dolphins. We also wanted to spend time not only watching Indy, Nicholas and Panama, but the newest addition, the very young Winter, the rescued dolphin that has no tail.

We spent over three hours just sitting there watching the dolphins swim, play and put on several shows for the visitors. There is something about watching dolphins, for they have a mesmerizing effect on people, and really make you feel happy and totally at peace. It was a relaxing way to end the weekend to say the least.

(Click on the thumbnails for a larger photo)

Tern Around

With no chance for rain today, we headed out to Honeymoon Island to rest and relax on the beach. We got to the island just as low tide was ending, so most of the bird activity was over, except we noticed a very large concentration of Forster's Terns flying from Caladesi Island.

The terns were flying low right over us by the dozens, each looking into the surf for the numerous Silversides that were just off shore to feed on. They just kept coming and coming, so I grabbed my camera to see if I could get some action shots of them as they flew by.

I spent an hour just snapping away as some swooped just feet over my head, sometimes so close that my 600mm lens was simply too much. I was even lucky to sometimes get several in one frame, making for some dramatic shots. Even got the occasional Sea Gull as they were mixing in with the action.

We ended the day out in the warm Gulf waters and watched as yet another spectacular sunset sank over the horizon.

(Click on the thumbnails for a larger photo)

San Francisco Workshop

The last five days I was in San Francisco, California and had a blast. We had a full workshop that covered the Art of Seeing as well as 'difficult exposures': filling the frame, horizontal versus vertical, size and scale, color, pattern, line and texture, symbolisms, freezing action and implying motion opportunities, the importance of lens choice and point of view, macro work, and the proper use of the polarizing and graduated neutral density filters.

I was able to snap a few photographs during the workshop, and will be posting them up in the next few days once the jet lag wears off.

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UPDATE: I finished processing the images I was able to snap while teaching the workshop, and you can view the images here:

• San Francisco Workshop Gallery

(Click on the thumbnails for a larger photo)

Earthquake In The Gulf

A large earthquake was registered in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday morning and rocked the bay. The National Earthquake Center confirmed an earthquake in the Gulf at 10:56 a.m. It was centered 260 miles west southwest of Clearwater.

It registered a 6 magnitude, which is considered strong in scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey web site. A 7 is considered large and 3 is rated a minor earthquake. Tremors were reportedly felt north to Gainesville and in Georgia and Alabama.

Winter

I stopped by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to take photos of Winter, a juvenile female Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin that was found entangled in trap near Cape Canaveral and was brought by ambulance from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and the Hubbs Institute of Orlando. No one else would accept her, for she is now missing her tail.

In open water, not having a tail could lead to a crippling spine injury or worse. But vets and volunteers have nursed Winter back to health, and now want to give her something truly rare. A prosthetic tail. If Winter is fitted with the prosthetic tail, she would become only the third dolphin to have one surgically attached.

It looked as if she has adjusted quite well to her new environment, and is now under the watchful eye of an adult Bottlenose Dolphin, Panama, and has kinda become Winter's surrogate mother. Winter was playing and imitating Panama as they were swimming beside each other during my visit to the aquarium. It was a sad thing to witness, but hopefully she will grow to have a happy and healthy life.

(Click on the thumbnails for a larger photo)

Back To Boyd Hill

We went back to Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Petersburg to take a hike on the nature trails on the preserve. We also wanted to check out the several captive birds they have at the preserve, including a Southern Bald Eagle, Turkey Vultures, Red Shouldered Hawks, Red Tailed Hawks, Barred Owls, Great Horned Owls and Screech Owls.

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Video Of A Barred Owl   (QuickTime Format - 1:59 - 12MB)
Video Of A Great Horned Owl   (QuickTime Format - 1:55 - 12MB)
Video Of A Screech Owl   (QuickTime Format - 1:17 - 8MB)
Video Of A Bald Eagle   (QuickTime Format - 2:00 - 12MB)
Video Of A Red Tailed Hawk   (QuickTime Format - 1:52 - 11MB)
Video Of A Red Shouldered Hawk   (QuickTime Format - 1:19 - 8MB)
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The last time we were at Boyd Hill, it was in the middle of winter and was much cooler then it was today, where the temperatures soared into the low 90's, and there was very little bird activity since most birds are now scattered about. So with that, we turned our attention to the little things that surrounded us and ended up using the macro lens to capture the beauty that can be found around the preserve.

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For those who say that Gopher Tortoises are slow, we beg to differ, and we have the video to prove it:

Watch A Video Of A Speedy Turtle   (QuickTime Format - :33 - 3MB)
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We got there very early, and ended up spending around five hours back on the trails, and was a great time looking for all of the little things that many may not even see. The highlight of the afternoon was watching a pair of Bald Eagles swoop down over the Scrub Flats, then soar high into the sky as they rode the thermals, all along the way making their calls be heard as they faded off into the distance.

(Click on the thumbnails for a larger photo)

Creative People Photography

Many people have asked me to recommend a photography book, and every single time it is the same response: "Get yourself a copy of Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure, then Understanding Digital Photography". If there are just two books you can buy, these are it. They are well-written, informative and explain photography techniques and the terminology in a way anyone from the beginner to the advanced shooter can understand.

Not only is Bryan my favorite photographer and author, he is also a good friend of mine and he just released his latest book, "Beyond Portraiture: Creative People Photography". Great portraits go beyond a mere record of a face. They reveal one of the millions of intimate human moments that make up a life. In Beyond Portraiture, renowned photographer Bryan Peterson shows how to spot those "ah-ha!" moments and capture them forever. A teary child...old people laughing together...a smiling girl with big, big hair.

Everyone remember pictures like these, usually taken by a mother, a father, a friend holding a camera, forever preserving small yet revealing vignettes of our personal histories. But we always relied on pure luck and chance to catch those moments. Bryan's approach explains what makes a photo memorable, how to spot the universal themes that everyone can identify with, and how to use lighting, setting, and exposure to reveal the wonder and the joy of everyday moments. Beyond Portraiture makes it easy to create indelible memories with light and shadow.

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Buy Your Copy Of Beyond Portraiture From
The Perfect Picture School Of Photography