Sanibel Lighthouse

On Tuesday night we traveled to the Sanibel Lighthouse following dinner. Per the sign below, the land was first settled by New Yorkers in the 1830's. The lighthouse was not built and operating until 1884.

I really like the angle of this shot, with the palm fronds in the lower foreground.

The lighthouse framed by a decaying tree along the shore. Probably a remnant of when Hurricane Charley (Category 4) came through here back on August 13, 2004. It really devastated the Sanibel/Captiva/Ft. Myers area.

We stayed to try to capture a sunset picture, but the cloudy skies were not about to let that happen. I did manage to get this shot though, with the timing just right to get the beam of light in the tower. We really got bit up this night by the no-see-ums, which are these tiny (about the size of a comma on your keyboard) biting flys. We both had sprayed ourselves with Off, but they managed to find all the little spots we missed.

Captiva Wildlife

This bird was hanging out by the T-dock one morning, just picking up the bait scraps that a father and son were leaving behind. I guess he's not one to pass up free food when he sees it.

This bird was wandering the beach one morning following the people around who were picking up shells.

We can't realy call this dog "wildlife", but we can call him "Kona". He was hanging out in the Sanybel's Finest gift shop located in the Jerry's Foods plaza.

I believe the bird below is a hawk. We found him the night we were out shooting the lighthouse. He took a look down at me, then his head moved side to side.

The parrot below is a Military Macaw named Mia. She had a thing for my wife, as everytime my wife walked near, the bird would get very close to the cage edge. Anytime anyone else walked near, off to the far corner she was. 

Around Captiva - Part I

Here are some various pics that I also wanted to post, but they really didn't fit with any one theme. Well, I guess in this set there may be a "chair" theme, as I had seen a great photo on flickr with this set of chairs.

Nobody heeded this sign, as every night people climbed the rocks for their sunset pics. 

I also had a"thing" for crooked trees. This set here were some of the best, I loved how one went left, one went right, and the center one just went straight.

I was walking back to our cottage one morning, and the reflection off the back of this truck caught my eye.

Around Captiva - Part II

This next set of pics continues the "around Captiva" theme and includes some that were taken at South Seas and some off the resort.

The Sanibel / Captiva area is one of the best places to find shells. The beach is littered with shells like the ones below. You do have to hunt for the more colorful ones, but they are not hard to find.

The Bubble Room is famous for their deserts. The food is ok, but you must stop here to get desert to go.




The Mucky Duck is a great restaurant for a lunch stop. It overlooks a small beach at the end of a road.

Rockville Centre Photo Walk - 6/27/2009

I took a drive over to Rockville Centre for a photo walk. There were a few buildings I wanted to shoot, after seeing them from the train going back and forth.

I liked the bright blue and yellow on the sign below. Although the main purpose for this shot was so that I could actually name the church I was shooting, upon review, this pic really pops, so it made it to the blog.

Below is my main reason for traveling out to Rockville Centre; the Saint Agnes church. I have seen this church so many times on my daily commute into the city, and have been wanting to photograph it for some time. So one last check of the weather, and I was good to go.

I was walking along the back of the church and came across the parish center, with this great big window facing west. Well, the sun was in the right direction, and the clouds were reflecting perfectly in the windows. I really like how this shot turned out.

The light was really good that night, it reminded me of Sedona, AZ, with the bright blue sky and the red rock cliffs. 

I had taken a series of shots similar to the one below, and when I was reviewing them the next day, I noticed that the lights on the to had just come on as I ws shooting. So, the pic below is the last from this series.

This diner is on Sunrise Highway in Rockville Centre, I thought it would make a good night shot with the red, blue, & green neon lights.

Wantagh Museum

Here are some pics I took on Saturday morning, as the sky was just right, and the sun was out (again, no rain). There is a "museum" in our town, that consists of the old rail road station, an old LIRR train car, a section of track, a RR crossing sign, and the old post office.

I really like the perspective of the flowers and the train car in this pic below.

The pic below is an HDR image, which is created by combining three photos into one. What you do is setup the camera to take three photos in succession, one at the correct exposure, one over exposed, and one under exposed. The software then combines these photos into one, with the user making adjustments to get the correct look.

A Night in Brooklyn

This past Thursday evening (6/25/09), there was finally a let up in the constant rain we've been having. So, after work I took a trip over to Brooklyn. There is a park along the waterfront that runs from underneath the Brooklyn Bridge to the base of the Mahattan Bridge.

I had seen another image on Flickr that was the inspiration for the shot below. I had on hand a 50mm lens and my ultra wide angle 11-16mm lens. Next time I'll have to bring something in the 24 - 35mm range. 

This next shot of the Manhattan Bridge, was taken earlier in the evening, when I first arrived at the park.

Classic Cars - Bellmore, NY 06/19/09

Here are pics from the June 20, 2009 visit to the Bellmore, NY Classic Car meet at the Bellmore Train Station. There were many more cars here than the last time I visited in May.

It was a cloudy night, so some of the shots have a blown out sky, but as the sun set, it added to the moody blue sky, as shown in the pics with the yellow car and red truck.

Bellmore Strawberry Festival - Where are the Strawberries?

Saturday evening, it was time for the Bellmore Strawberry Festival. I tried looking for the strawberries, but I did not find anything strawberry related, even though every vendor's tent had a big sign saying they were a proud sponsor of the Strawberry Festival. Perhaps next year.

Since I couldn't find any strawberries, I decided to take some pics of the rides. Here is a pic of the main "midway". It's the first time I had seen one of those power shot rides at a carnival. In this shot I managed to get both the Round Up operating and the Power Shot. The ferris wheel had stoped not a minute before.

Here's a motion pic of the riders being shot up the tower.

This is the Riptide, which is a rotating ride in which the platform you sit on remains level. The ride rotates along the vertical, so you feel the sensation of rising and falling very quickly. The lights on the ride changed colors as it went through its run.

Here's the classic carnival ride, the Round Up. I can remember riding this many times at various fairs.

Here's a view of some of the games. This shot was a long exposure, so unless the people were fairly still, they just disappeared. The game operator to my right asked what I was doing, and when I showed him the pic, he couldn't believe that you could make the people disappear.

There was one stall selling Wild Bill's rootbeer. I really liked the mugs they had for sale.