Life and Death - The Chincoteague Conundrum

Ahh the story behind this photo. I was spending the weekend with my new in-laws at Chincoteague Island, Maryland and I had really been trying to take some pictures all weekend and I just hadn’t gotten a chance. Finally the skies cleared up, and my camera was actually on me and so the wife and I went out on bike looking for good lighting and shots. I had been watching these birds here near the bridge all weekend. They tilt their head to the side and wait and watch for the fish and when they finally get the fish in their sites they attack. I guess the most amazing part for me is that they are not a small animal by any means but they are so much faster than the fish. I knew I needed to capture the motion on when photographing these birds so I adjusted my shutter speed to be high at 1/1000. Turned out well I love the fish in his mouth jumping for its life as the bird tosses him back in his pallet. I think I took about 20 photos of this guy before I was able to get one or two I really like. I have another I just have not decided if I am going to post it. Well shortly after taking this pictures it began to sprinkle and when I looked up the skies had turned to black. We rode as fast as we could to a local Dairy Queen got some Ice Cream and waited out the storm. What a day!  

Update: Since I am importing this from my old blog I guess I get to update people on some interesting information. My mother was redesigning her bathroom as I was going through my Iphoto library she saw this shot, she had to have it! She blew it up and its hanging in there. It was the first piece of my work that actually was printed and framed, needless to say I was very excited.

I also decided to go head and post the second photo with this post, so here it is. Yet again, really high shutter speed to get the water just dripping.

Walking After Midnight

One night whilst in Key West (I know I am getting some new stuff soon) I decided to play with my aperture and my F stop. What resulted was this image. I was trying to get to a point where the light of the signs was not blasting out the image while still being able to retain some sense of whats going on. I exposed for what I considered to be a long time (especially without a tripod) at 1/125th of a second and I had my f/4.5 so high to compensate for the duration of the shot. I really like long shutter speed photography and I really enjoyed taking this picture. The other major challenge was the framing, in order to fit the entire image in the shot I was basically standing IN a shop across the street that was closing and kindly asked me to buy something or leave. I obliged but not before I was able to snap up this “gem”. For those of you whom have never been lucky enough to go to Sloppy Joe’s Bar its fantastic, the food is pretty good, and its a must do in Key West. My favorite story that I have heard of the bar is that when they were moving from their old location to the one they currently reside they opened both locations and told all the patrons that they would get a free drink for every piece of furniture that they moved. Now thats efficiency!

A Fountain of Gold

This picture is another example of being in the right spot at the right time, and by right spot I simply mean completely and utterly lost. Wandering the streets of Key West in a desperate attempt to to get my bearings I was peering through the gates at some of the houses in Key West. Low and behold I find this little gem and I am taken aback by how beautiful this fountain is.  I ended up putting my lens between the bars of the iron gate and ended up having to take a few to get everything right. With Tina urging me to press on and I snapped this as my final shot of the group.  I felt this a fitting second shot for my new project as its almost the complete opposite of the first. These were both taken with my “nifty fifty” which is my 50mm F1.8 lens, its a real gem. The best address I can give you regarding this image is 326 Whitehead St, Key West Fl. Whoever lives here is lucky and has done a fantastic job with their decorations. Leave comments!

Welcome to Paradise

There is a story behind every picture, and this is no exception.  Having looked into Key West for our honeymoon for awhile I had seen pictures of the legendary “sign” and I had been meaning to find it. Being our third day in Key West we had decided that we wanted to go to Zachary Taylor State Park. We had seen the beach, seen the old Fort that was there and we had decided that we had seen about enough of the park. Don’t get me wrong, the park was very nice but I was ready to leave. Tina urged me to walk the rest of the beach (its not too large) over to an area with a gazebo and other things. Reluctantly I agreed and it turned out to be well worth the trip. I took many photos of this sign, but this one really speaks to me. It was my first real moment in Key West were I felt like I was really in paradise.