gray scale sunset…
when I take a photo of the sunset, sometimes the colors look right to me and sometimes they don’t…when they don’t I try the grayscale…I rather like it!
would you give it a try?
This is something I would like to do but won’t…my body would rebel! I always thought it looked like fun though. We saw boat drawn para-gliders each day, but only this motorized para-glider …as in the second photo, during the two weeks there.
fascinating clouds…
Our condo in Marco Island faced west, so of course I saw my share of sunsets…I do have to say the most beautiful sunsets were when there was some interesting cloud formations! The Gulf of Mexico sky does seem to offer strikingly beautiful clouds!
surfer dude…
the first couple of days it was windy…one of those days we saw a few fellows out catching a few waves…this fellow did well, I managed to capture one attempt.
I don’t know anything about surfing but I wouldn’t have thought the waves large enough for a descent ride?
He seemed to enjoy himself and make the best of it managing a few rides!
All be it short rides…
different…
this vacation was much different from what I’ve done for the past eight or so years…I’ve not stayed at the ocean for two weeks, nor in a anything higher than the first floor, for that long…we generally rent a condo in Key West in a complex which is only two stories, and always choose the ground floor. Last year in Marco we rented a house, so being on the 5th floor was different…it was so awesome to sit on the deck and look around, watch the people, the water and the sky. So much to see from one view point. I do have to say I’m not a fan of highrises…but that was the only option if we wanted to be on the beach…
this is looking right/north off the balcony, it looks like a short walk, but in reality it is much longer than it appears…
this was our first day, a bit cooler for some, around 18c I think, but for us it was fabulous
this is looking left/south of our balcony…the beach ends there as a rock formation which would make it difficult to walk on.
Photos weren’t taken on the same day as you can tell from the sky…
fishin buddies…
From my balcony I watched a man fishing, he stopped by a few times, never saw him catch anything but I’m sure he enjoyed himself…it really wasn’t the gentleman that caught my eye but these two fellows…his fishin buddies! These two weren’t concerned about people walking by, I’m sure they were just hoping the man would leave something…the man completely ignored them, I’m sure he was used to them hanging around.
sunset…
Boring name I know, but I don’t really have a way with words! I had a difficult time while away trying to capture the sunsets…our condo faced west so I saw one most evenings, but was rarely happy with the photos. Not sure why, someone said I should have used a tripod and a longer exposure and I’m sure he was correct, I honestly don’t know enough about my camera, at this point, I’m enjoying taking photos but not yet feeling like I want to jump head first into the workings of the camera. I couldn’t bring my tripod on the plane, too much to carry…I was with my daughter so I wasn’t about to take the time to begin reading to find out what to do!
These are the same photos of course…but the colors in the colored are not accurate! I’m showing one B & W along with its color counterpart simply because even though the color isn’t accurate I like the photo!!!
home…
As you may know I was away for a couple of weeks, we were most fortunate to have missed the two coldest weeks so far this winter!!! Didn’t take my laptop so I couldn’t keep up with posting and visiting. This year my daughter and I went to Marco Island. I stayed there for a week last year in a house and enjoyed it so thought I’d try it again. This time we decided to go for a condo on South Marco Beach, with a west exposure. As a result the majority of my photos will be from that area…of course we went out, but for the most part when we did I forgot my camera, as we were going shopping, to the Market or to eat! If you’ve never been, the beach itself is a beauty, fairly wide, with most of the surface compact broken shells with some fine sand mixed in, the waters edge is small shells, some live some not. I enjoyed myself watching theses fellows moving along across the shells. Shoes are required when walking along the beach unless you are right at the waters edge…
I may not be around…
I’m leaving today for Florida for two weeks…I’m not bringing my laptop so I may not have the opportunity to post or visit until I return. I intend to take as many photos as I can so should have lots to work with when I return…
winter…
In the spring, summer and fall this is a beautiful park area beside Lake Nipissing…it is still beautiful but rather stark with the snow…when I was a child this was a busy happening place. Not so any more, I visit once in a while and there are rarely any people swimming here. Rather sad actually that such a great park isn’t utilized much…although we have a few that aren’t being used a great deal.
I spotted this yesterday afternoon…not sure what it is all about as I don’t visit this area much…I was up a slight embankment and couldn’t walk down to look at the plaque beside it as the snow was too deep. I’m thinking it is some kind of beacon, totem pole, but honestly don’t know what or why it is there. I will find out eventually. The triangular shaped top looks like green glass. I did it in black & white as some areas of the snow and clouds were just too blue and I couldn’t eliminate it in Photoscape…notice the ridges behind it, they are all along the shore line but the rest of the ice as far as the eye can see looks fairly smooth…I’ve not heard if the ice is safe enough to venture out but I did notice a number of people taking ice huts out so I’m hoping so!
This was taken a couple of weeks ago when we had the hoar frost morning, I’ve since learned that is what it is called…”a grayish-white crystalline deposit of frozen water vapor formed in clear still weather on vegetation, fences, etc.” Today it was much warmer -5C or 23F and we now have wet slushy roads. I’ll take a few photos to show you the difference a day can make in the appearance!
brrrrrrr….
This fall, we have had very cold weather…generally this type of weather is in January or February, not November and December. I know…it is what it is! For the last week or so the wind chill has made it biting cold…today it is -32C or -25.6F…darn cold for December 14th!!! So another shot from the south for today…a Key West sunset taken last winter. Makes me feel warmer just looking at it!
sand and sun…
I decided it is time for a bit of sand and sun…since I can’t photograph the sand here I will rely on photos I took in the last few winters…when I go to Florida I generally don’t stay in a condo/house on the beach, for one far to expensive for my liking and Key west generally doesn’t have condos on the beach…across the street or close by but we like to be able to walk everywhere so find it better to stay close to Duval Street…as a result I don’t have a great many beach photos…should have many this winter as my daughter and I will be staying in Marco Islands in a condo on the beach in January…the first for me in many years.
Marco Island, Florida – 2012
Naples, Florida, 2012
Fort Zachary State Park Beach – 2012
towards the Government dock
This is another of the photos taken a week ago…heading towards the Government Dock.
bumpy ice…
it has been warmer the last day or so, in fact it is sunny and -4C right now, so it that keeps up hopefully this will melt and smooth out! I could wish for lots of snow to cover this but the solid pieces could be dangerous…I’d rather it melted. This makes for difficult walking, cross country skying or snowmobiling when the ice is thick enough! It is NOT thick enough, we haven’t had enough cold weather.
more frosty birch trees…
it was a bit windy the day this was taken…if you look closely, especially on the top left side you can see the snow blowing off the trees…
frosty…
This was taken on Friday morning as well…the trees did look beautiful. The clouds were rolling in fast as you can see behind the trees…
sunny for now…
I went out this morning to take photos at the waterfront…it went from sunny to cloudy in minutes! The lake appears to be frozen over but at this point the ice will only be paper thin…
forgot…
This photo is one of a few I took the beginning of November… I was looking for a photo to post that didn’t have snow and icicles in it and it!
bitterly cold wind…
when I went for a walk to day it was overcast, lightly snowing with a bitterly cold north wind…I captured a few photos at one of the access. the white you see in the distance isn’t waves, it is chunks of ice forming in the water…the wind chill factor dropped the temperature cold enough ice is forming in chunks.
ice encrusted…
both these photos are of the ice encrusted rocks after a cold windy day when the waves crash on shore…the water freezes on the rocks in a ripply affect…I don’t think I quit captured the beauty…especially when the sun shines on them!
missed the sunset…
Yesterday afternoon I happened to take note of the sky just around sunset, possibly because we haven’t had much in the way of sunshine lately…I got in my vehicle and drove to a public access close to me, but by the time I arrived the sun had set. The sun seems to drop quickly once it reaches a certain point… I still managed to get a colorful sky!
signs winter is on its way…
I took these photos yesterday…I missed the setting sun, but there was an awesome sky that I wanted to take photos of. When I was at the water front I noticed the ice that had formed on this metal fence…the day before was blowing, snowing, cold… generally a nasty day…as you can see cold enough that when the waves splashed up on the metal fence the water froze…I managed to capture a number of nice colored sky photos and a few more interesting icicle photos but this is it for today…I tried many times last night to post but for some reason I couldn’t get the photos to post at the size I wanted??? So I left it and decided to try this morning…
strange sky…
yesterday was a strange day, with the most unusual skies…changing from dark and moody to light and fluffy so quickly due to the strong winds!
sun bathing…
I took this photo of the Chief Commanda, the restaurant, last Saturday…I liked how it looked bathed in the light of the setting sun!
got it…
I managed to get a sunset this past Saturday…my first in a very long time. I took photos as it was going down but they were too dark??? The wind was bitterly cold, of course I wasn’t properly dressed as I came from a show, so my hands were not steady…but I was determined!
makes me smile…
the last couple of days have been cold, very wet and windy…typical fall days…but I decided I’d rather look at something else…the beach at Fort Zachary State Park, Key West! The sand is very pebbly and hard on the feet…definitely need flip flops. All three photos were taken in the winter of 2011 with my iPhone…
strike a pose…
stopped at Sunset Park Beach to check for changing leaves and found this fellow and a buddy scurrying around…at first neither would let me get remotely close but after about a half hour of me taking photos of the ducks this one didn’t seem to be as timid…
more of Callander Bay…
The day I stopped by Callander Bay was very hot, humid and hazy…I found some of the photos showed the haze, which is why I opted for b & w. you can see the haze in both photos. This section of the Callander dock is going to be repaired eventually…I just heard something about it this week…a section of it was removed from the dock so no one could use it right now…
this island is at the end of the section of dock above…
hanging around…
I shot this fellow last Saturday, during a walk along the waterfront…I watched him for sometime and took many shots to get this one…
one of us has gone fishin!
I saw three female ducks sitting on the rocks last Saturday just like this…I had to take a photo of this lady as she actually looks angry! apparently ducks do this to keep warmer…
gone fishin…
this female didn’t mind her photo being taken!
A windy day at the beach!
these next photos were taken on the same day…it was very windy but the ducks seem to be enjoying the turbulent water…swimming about! the female below was rather nosy and came up very close…some are more skittish than others…
this next photos was take in the creek that flows into Lake Nipissing…I’ve watched this family on and off, for about a month now…babies are getting big!
Lake Rosseau…
Every Friday till Labor Day weekend I do the Rosseau Market…on the shores of Lake Rosseau, in the tiny community of Rosseau…it is a beautiful area. The first two photos are cottages, the second is a boat house, the cottage is hidden in the trees!
a bit of B & W
I becoming a big fan of b & w…these are older shots I’ve converted as I’ve not been able to take many photos and the ones I’ve taken I’ve not done anything with yet. I’ll get to them soon I hope. The photo below is cropped as I liked the rather eery look of it this way…believe it or not there is a restaurant/bar behind me, I think I’ve shown photos of before…right on a canal that feeds into to Lake Harris, Leesburg Florida.
this is a shot I took from my vehicle window while driving through Kentucky on my way home last winter…if you are a visitor you will know I’m a huge fan of “naked” trees…
this is one side of Sunset Park point…before all the ice was gone…I thought the b & w made this shot look rather interesting…
sunset from the past…
I took some photos on Saturday that I deleted, they were awful due to user error… I was looking through my photos for something to post as I’ve not been able to get out and take any photos since Saturday…found this, it will work for now!
I hope to take more photos tomorrow, but for now these are a couple more from the other day…this one was taken looking in the opposite direction from the ducks. Off Silver Beach
I love flowers and always make sure I’ve them in the house…I usually choose purples and white, while not my usual choice, these caught my eye…
converted and not…
I’ve recently converted a number of color photos to black & white…when the shot works I find it very appealing.
buzzing around!
I was at the waterfront the other day and came upon this pretty pink flowered bush…I’m not up on my flowers so I don’t know what it is called…but the closer I got the more Bees I noticed…so I tried to get a few shots. I have to say these fellows don’t stay in on position for more than a couple of seconds, it was very difficult to get photos…I’m sure the people walking by where wondering what I was doing? these are three different Bees at three different bushes…in case you were wondering!
angry clouds…
I have to admit I’ve a major weakness for dark, moody, angry looking clouds…I don’t want any storm to accompany them, I only want to watch the clouds. I stopped along the waterfront earlier today as we had such clouds rolling around in the sky, no storm, just fabulous clouds! It is amazing to watch them change before your very eyes…mesmerizing! I’ve not done anything to these photos…this is how the clouds looked…I may try HDR, on these photos another day… for for now this is it.
when I see the lake this calm with clouds like this I always think, “the calm before the storm” I’ll let you know…
black & white & color
I saw this old barn on the drive home from Florida this winter… in Kentucky I think. The photos was taken from the vehicle out of the passenger side window. The roof has seen better days…thought I’d try it in both color and black & white…do you have a preference?
these of course are more of the gnarly bent trees…
Heather Cote... 