Stories from the city, stories from the Sea in Texas
It was my first time to see the Sea, or some part of it, in over 2 years, the longest such stretch of my life, and 2 years too long. Corpus Christi, Texas offers city and sea experiences, both of which you can drive right too. I had never driven on a beach before, as it is not the custom in Florida (I don’t count Daytona). It was both convenient to go a few miles down the shoreline to your own spot and have all your gear right there, but also disconcerting because a car could drive by you while relaxing on the beach! I brought my new DJI Mavic 3 Cine drone with me, and my new Sony 24mm f/1.4 G Master lens to capture these images. I really enjoyed the results of holding my camera low, with a slow shutter speed, and letting the small waves come in and create seascape dreamscapes.
A place long past its hey day, Bombay Beach, for the curiosity seeker, can still hold a lot of interest. The beach itself looks like the wasted remnants of a beautiful sandy beach. Even the rock jetties and wooden posts have fallen into an eerie decay. It feels like a place that has suffered a horror, and that feeling is tangible to the visitor. Stride away from the water and come across a ghost ship, a mysterious cube suspended within a cube, and other assorted random forgotten things made into art or just forgotten memory. Bombay Beach is no longer a vacation destination, but definitely a place to seek out, experience, and then get out before one becomes part of the lost landscape.
Southern California is a place of unbelievable environments that seemingly appear out of nowhere. Driving down the highway and there appears towering and endless sand dunes. Drive another direction and the desert gives way to a vast expanse of electric blue water surround by haunted white sand. See this, and you are looking at the Salton Sea. Saltier than the ocean, mysterious, and graveyards for beaches, the Salton Sea holds as much to view as it does to think about. Look closely at the beach photos below. The sand is made from infinite fish skeletons. There was a mile long line of these poor fish lying bleached in the sun. They get ground up and added to the granules of sand.
Kiki and I took a weekend trip over to the West Palm Beach area of Florida to check out a dog beach near Juno. The night before we happened to come across a scenic ocean park that lead to a pier. Though this is officially the Lake Worth Pier, it is most know for Benny's on the Beach restaurant. I liked how this pier retains the classic look of old Florida from the 1960s. It suits the beach scene well better than modern looking piers and structure on piers.
Visiting all the way from Utah, Matt & Shanna have fun at Bilmar Beach Resort during our sunset portrait session - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame right front & SB-600 to frame right rearIt would seem the Bilmar Beach Resort is a popular hotel with out of state visitors as the last time I did a sunset beach portraits session there it was with someone visiting from Chicago. This time, a couple all the way from Utah was staying on Treasure Island and met me for a candid couples beach sunset portait shoot. There are few things I am lucky with in life, but having good weather at sunset time is one of them. Just the night before it was raining all evening. As you can see, no rain in sight thankfully!
Twilight beach portrait at Bilmar Beach Resort Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left front & SB-600 to frame right rearBeing a Tuesday evening in September as well, there were few people on the beach allowing for wide shots like the one above to not require any tricky people removing editing in the background. The twilightsky was also very beautiful. We stayed a little extra longer to get the above shot.
Leaning in for a kiss at Bilmar Beach Resort Treasure Island Florida during sunset portraits - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame right front & SB-600 to frame left rearIt was a fun session with Shanna and Matt and I am always glad to be able to help people remember their time in Florida through photographs.
All smiles for this family on Madeira Beach during their sunset portrait session in Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 @ 1/2 powerIt had been awhile since I had a sunsetfamily beach portrait session on Madeira Beach, so it was good to meet Paula and family there recently, although once facing the Gulf of Mexico, pretty much every beach on the Pinellas peninsula looks the same! The family-in-a-row was a new style photograph for me. I am always looking for new ways to photograph families on the beach and adding as much variety to a family's set of shots as possible. I like this in-a-row composition and will definitely be adding it to my already existing set of shots.
Sisters all stacked up on Madeira Beach during a fun family beach portraits session - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/640th - natural lightAll three sisters stacked themselves up and were bookended by their parents. I encourage families to physically interact as much as possible to add a natural and fun look to shots. The more you come into physical contact, the better the results is typically how it goes. Just standing stiffly side-by-side is something I try to avoid at all costs.
Family togetherness on Madeira Beach in Florida during a sunset portrait session - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/500th - natural lightI wonder if in 20 years these sisters will remember what they were laughing about in this moment. I hope they can. That is the potential power of a still photograph.
A beautiful sunset on Madeira Beach Florida for family portraits - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 @ 1/2 powerFor me personally (and as a photographer), I prefer there to be some clouds along the horizon and in the sky in general for sunset portraits.
Sisters jumping on Madeira Beach during a family beach sunset portrait session in Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 @ 1/2 powerI think these three sisters jumped the highest I have ever seen for a jumping photograph of this nature. Madeira Beach and mother nature provided a very nice backdrop for this family beach sunset portrait session.
Just the adults from a John's Pass Beach family portrait session - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThe weather was fine all day as I made my way to the beach at John's Pass to meet a 12-person family all from Canada for family beach portraits. However, once on the beach there were storm clouds everywhere to the south, west and north, but none passed over until the shoot was finished. Lucky again! In this shoot I really tried to stress avoiding just having people line up side by side (the picket fence look) and asked for more hands on interaction, like in the above shot. I placed the man in the pink shirt on the sand first, and then had everyone else stack on top of him.
Sisters having fun on Madeira Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThese sisters needed no prompting to take up a more fun pose on the beach. The challenge with them was getting them to do something not too crazy with each other!
Just the boys during this Madeira Beach family portrait session - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightOnly the guys in this shot and the best way to keep two active boys under somewhat control is to have them under wraps!
All twelve family members walking down Madeira Beach at John's Pass Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/500thThe whole 12-person family walking down the beach. Overlap by someone walking too fast is a concern in these shots, so I instructed everyone to walk at the same pace and not get in front of each other. By the second take they had gotten it down.
Cousins all stacked up on Madeira Beach family portraits Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightNothing like a small stack of cousins as the kids when on their own in front of the lens seemed to be more willing to smile and stay put.
The whole family portrait all 12 on Madeira Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThis was actually the first shot of the evening, everyone together in a large group shot by the sea grass. Even in this type of shot I encouraged some overlap getting everyone to sit as close to each other as possible to show more emotional connection between the family.
