A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens
Life on my own, on the Nature Coast of Florida, and beyond…
Off we went to the USF hockey game the other night, me armed with my nice light new camera and the 18-150 lens, expecting to not shoot many pictures. But I got distracted…
Warmed up and with a better view I enjoyed the rest of the evening. Plus ‘we’ won, 8-2.
Even in the daylight I watch my step in this neighborhood. There are lots of mature trees casting deep shadows, and wrecking havoc with the sidewalks with sections of concrete just dying to trip you up. But walking up the street last night I ran into a few of the neighbors…
Little kids might be too intimidated to approach these houses for Trick or Treating. And I thought of this neighborhood as typical suburban, but I hadn’t checked it out after dark.
Maybe it’s me. My current computer is the third computer of mine that has left me in the lurch when it comes to Lightroom. Since that is pretty much all I do on the computer it’s no small thing to me. So yesterday I took my 27 inch Mac back to the Apple store and it was ‘admitted’ for further evaluation. I don’t think of myself as a girly girl in the least, but seeing the table of new 24 inch desktops in so many pretty colors has me wondering exactly what I’m hoping as to the condition of the old computer. They are new, pretty, and have the M1 chip. Do I know what that is? No, but it sounds good. I don’t know what $$$ to fix it would be my cut off point, and if I opt for a new computer which color would I choose? Decisions, decisions…
This is my second year in a row of meeting an old friend in Longboat Key. Such a beautiful spit of land along the Gulf of Mexico, and the view to the other side is Sarasota Bay. The day was predicted to be cloudy all day, but the sun came in and out, and I had moments of wishing that the sun would disappear behind a cloud for a minute as we sat on the beach. Followed by welcoming the sun back as the breeze chilled us. It is a lovely place to spend a winter day in Florida.
I do have good taste, but I also have the beer pocketbook to go with it. A little cottage on a lake, where I could watch the sunrise and/or sunset without racing up, or down, the road. Someplace with quirks, which, to me, suggests a cosy, homey little place. Speaking of the place, I might have found the community in SC while visiting for Christmas. Lake Wylie. Lots of little fingers of land jut into the lake, and the houses on the roads there must have great views, at least in the winter when the leaves are gone. The little park that I found so that I could stop to take pictures was up high, with views in three directions. There was a playground and bathrooms, and lots of designated golf cart parking spaces. But when I got on Zillow I discovered that there are no tiny cottages, or tiny price tags. Sigh. Somewhere there is a cosy little spot just waiting for me to find it. In the meantime I’ll keep dreaming…
Four years ago to the day, last Saturday to be precise, I went to my second photo walk with my ‘new’ (at the time) photo group. I saw the announcement of a photo walk to see the Dunedin Christmas Boat Parade and had to summon up all my courage to go join in with a bunch of people I didn’t know. Especially true since I was such a novice with my camera, which to me was a big deal investment, but I was barely functional with it. Lucky for me one of the group administrators set my camera up for me that day, thanks Kate. Our leader Jeff had snagged prime territory for great views of the boats as they made their way into the marina, and even provided chairs for us to sit on. A luxury I’m afraid I didn’t appreciate until 4 years later when we were faced with finding a place to shoot the scene on our own. Weighed down by equipment, and with two (really three) hours to kill before the boats would arrive, we decided to take advantage of the empty bleachers which would give us a great view of the boats arriving at the marina. Great view yes, but a challenge for photography with boats arriving and leaving and their lights overlapping, etc. The feature photo is from my iPhone as the sun was setting, and it was about 6 PM, time for the parade to begin. It took almost an hour before the boats began to arrive at the marina. A dramatic sunset filled the gap.
Even though I had advice about what settings to use for this shoot I will need more practice before I’ll be really happy with shots like these. But I was happy with the day itself. Winter in Florida can’t be beat.
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens 