Saturday, October 26, 2013

Where I now live makes getting to the beach at dawn or sunset very easy.  That time of day offers the photographer a 'golden hour' with the warmest light, and it often is truly golden.  For monochrome it's a beautiful time as well, because the sun is oblique so that shadows and raking light reveal textures that just aren't visible at other times.   The two below were made on Friday morning, October 25th just after sunrise.  I began to expose the two rolls I used before the sun had actually broken the horizon, and had finished them both (ten negatives each) by about 8 AM.







Tuesday, October 22, 2013

I'm not finding it particularly easy to adapt to this area visually.  Until the weather changes considerably, and fog, and mist, and some of the other glories of autumn show up (fall color is minimal here, dammit!!) , it will continue to be a rough slog for me, I think.  But, the ocean and beaches are different.  Even when they're not appealing to the camera, they are an appealing place to be in their own right.  For photography, it would be good to be there when there is a lot of silver light on wet sand, or dramatic clouds, or angry  surf.  Last Sunday, I visited the beach near Marineland where there are interesting formations of coquina* that I didn't succeed in photographing well, but at least I thought that the two below of the path to the beach, and the lone rock made the trip worthwhile.

*" Also known as coquina, from the Spanish for cockleshell, Anastasia limestone is composed primarily of shell and coral fragments, fossils and sand. Small fossils are clearly visible in the rock faces, most commonly the shells of small clams and oysters or pieces of a large snail called Busycon."   from the Nature Conservancy's Blowing Rocks Preserve website. 









Wednesday, October 16, 2013

I've been going to the ocean every day that the weather and tide has allowed (I prefer to be there at low tide when the sand is easy to walk on, and the beach is widest.)  I plan to ride my mountain bike there tomorrow...the sand is perfect for it, and bikes are a common sight.  But, making interesting photographs isn't simple.  Despite the daily variations of the sky, sea, and surf, image worthy moments can't be expected as often as I would like.  Storms help, as does moonlight, fog, and large areas of glistening wet sand, however those are hardly frequent occurences.  But, now that the weather isn't so bitchin' wicked hot, I don't feel reluctant to pack the camera and tripod just in case.  This photograph was made at the same time the one of mostly sky and clouds below was taken.



Sunday, October 6, 2013

This is what it's all about here.  The ocean is an easy 20 minutes away, and completely accessible...no fees, no parking stickers, plenty of parking in the off season, and beaches that are never too crowded in or out of season. It's odd for me, as a New Yorker, to see people in bathing suits on the beach in early October, and it's likely that that will continue for yet another month to a lesser extent.  It's also kinda fun to be there in the middle of a weekday without guilt or penalty!  lol!




Saturday, October 5, 2013

I wish all bridges were available for foot traffic.  I realize the high ones might be tempting for ending it all, but that's what fences help prevent.  In New York, I always wanted the Tappan Zee bridge to have a pedestrian way like the Newburgh Beacon, and the George Washington ones do.  The view of the Hudson looking south as I drove across the TZ every day was often spectacular with sunlit water, and magical cloud forms. It's a similar deal here in Florida with some bridges offering the pedestrian safe passage and others not.  Frustrating sometimes.  The photograph below was made from a very low bridge that has a walkway on both sides.  For those who know this area, it is on the highway that leads to Amelia Island and the resorts there.






Thursday, October 3, 2013


At last I've figured out how to use my new-to-me Epson 750 Pro Scanner.  It's been a multi-day chore, but I'm thrilled to have finally accomplished it.  What is posted below is from the first roll of film I've exposed in Florida since moving here.  It's a place I've visited before, but never been happy with what I photographed.  The slight sepia color is a Photo Shop Elements 11 emulation of the kind of toning I will eventually do in the darkroom to a paper print.  What's interesting, though, is that Spanish moss is actually gray and looks very much like it does in an untoned black and white print.  I may have to think about that before committing the image to paper....to tone or not to tone!