Shooting with friends…

Our photography group was incredibly active before covid, and we have now begun to schedule photo walks while we pray for them not to be rained out. After I joined I attended all the classes and photowalks that I could manage, and that has been a blessing to me with the new friends I have made. So last night we set out to St. Pete for the night photo walk extra early, to beat the traffic. This despite some very ominous skies in just the direction we were headed. We parked two hours early, and just then we heard a crack of thunder just over head. But, amazingly, the storm didn’t materialize and the clouds blew inland. And quite a few other photo-walk starved members showed up for a fun evening.

We met near the St. Pete Pier and rode the free trolley to the end of the pier to grab a light dinner and kill some time before the shoot.

The fisherman on the left has caught a shark a day since last April, or so said the trolley drivers. The fisherman knew that they were talking about him so he came over and got out his phone to show us photos of his prize catches.

This is our spot to meet the group. Silly me, I touched the ‘papers’ on the bench since I thought they had gotten all wet in the short rain that we did have… but they were part of the sculpture.

And then we walked along the busy downtown streets, peeking into doorways, and at fun store fronts, as well as busy bars and restaurants.

I will confess that I was hot and sweaty, and struggling with an extra heavy tripod that I have no intention of borrowing again. My fellow photographers were shooting up at buildings, and squatting on their heels to get the angles they were looking for. I was barely keeping up, and when I got a chance to shoot I didn’t even set up the tripod, I just used it as a monopod and I was sure I wouldn’t get any usable shots at all. That I did came as a huge surprise to me.

I almost skipped shooting this doorway but my friend told me to take the shot and he’d wait with me.

This was my last shot and my favorite. We were returning to the car about a half hour after sunset and I liked this view. Another shot taken on the run, I think I’m loving my new camera.

The group stopped at one of the bars we had walked past and all had a drink together. Or maybe two even. I think I wasn’t the only one to be happy to be out shooting in a group again. And to think of the months of nice weather we have ahead of us, and all the places we might go, makes me happy.

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