In The Beginning

Some of you regulars around here may wonder how I got started in the picture-taking business. Well, I was reminded of that by the wedding pictures I posted just the other day. Way back in 2001, I was invited to the wedding of an old friend in Key West. I took my little cheap digital camera with me, and wandered all over the island the day before the wedding. I'd been taking pictures for years (I remember a 35MM camera emblazoned with Sam The Eagle from the 1984 Olympics in LA), but none of the pictures I had taken before that weekend had ever excited me the way the pictures from Key West did. The palm tree above was probably my favorite picture of the whole weekend, but there were literally dozens and dozens of great shots. I was a little frustrated, though, because the old Kodak DC 280 camera I was using only had 1 megapixel. Within two weeks, I had a fancy new 3 megapixel Kodak DC 4800, and I was a photographer. The shot below is from that same weekend, and was taken from the deck of the Schooner Western Union during the wedding itself. I almost missed the boat (literally) before the wedding, because I was off taking pictures.

Eagle In The Distance

I bring you a lot of bird pictures here at Ernie (Not Bert), and most of them are a whole lot better than this one, but none of them are shots of a bird as majestic as this bald eagle. I wish I could get closer to him, but I don't want to get shot for trespassing. I first showed you a picture of this guy and his mate last year, but it was taken with the old camera, so it's a little blurrier. They are building a large housing development close to this guy's nest, so I may be able to get closer in the near future, if the development doesn't drive them away. You can see the huge nest they live in below. This massive structure stood up to several hurricane near-misses in the past few years, so you can imagine how well-built it is.

Keep Watching The Skies

What else did I do last weekend? Oh, yeah, I went to a wedding. And not just any wedding, but a wedding where the bride and the groom fell from the sky. Yes, you read that right. They climbed into an airplane and returned to earth without it. The shot above is the lovely bride, Heather, and below is Marck, the groom. Heather was an old pro at jumping, I think this was her 70th jump, or something like that. It was Marck's third, so he wasn't allowed to jump solo. Look closely, and you'll see he's jumping tandem with someone else.

After the jump, everyone gathered around the back of the plane for a short ceremony led by a skydiver dressed in a Spiderman jumpsuit. I don't know if it was planned or not, but there were other jumpers falling from the sky right before the ceremony, making for a great shot.

I described the wedding theme as gangster-pimp. Taking a look at the groom below, you can probably see why.

The bride was not looking gangster or pimp. She was, however, wearing bright red, patent-leather combat boots. I didn't get any good pictures of them, I'm afraid. I don't know her at all, and she probably wondered why I was taking so many pictures anyway. I didn't want to shoot her feet, too.

And here's everybody's favorite part of the wedding, the first kiss as man and wife. Don't miss Spiderman there on the left.

I think this was my favorite picture I took of the couple. This was as they were walking back to the hangar after the ceremony. I've never been the official photographer at a wedding (and I don't want to be), but I've shot quite a few of them in my own amatuerish way. I like to try and get shots that a professional wedding photog wouldn't take.

I may have missed the bride's red boots, but I did get the purple Pumas on my friend Arn's feet.

Wisconsin (6/50)

Here's a new plate for you, courtesy of the state of Wisconsin and Nurse Babs.

Previous plates: New York, Maine, Hawaii, Washington, Ohio.

More Baby (Not Cat)

I normally only post one version of a shot, but I can't get enough of these heron babies. This is a great shot. The baby is almost a mirror image of the parent, just slightly less regal

Flights Of Fancy

It's really hard to get a good picture of a bird in flight. This one isn't too bad, but it could be better. The one below is much better. I'd like to have caught more of the green color of the water though. I'm my own worst critic.

That same great blue heron kept flying back and forth across the Venice inlet, so I got several chances to shoot. The photo below is probably the best I got. I love the little bird to the right trying to get out of the way. I also like the fact that I'm in front of the bird. It's rare to catch them flying towards you.

Mother & Child Times Two

I had a chance to visit the Venice Rookery this weekend, and as usual, I got a severe case of lens envy. There were professional photographers out there with 1000mm lenses and $10,000 cameras. So I'm sure their pictures are better than these by a long shot. But mine are still pretty good. In the photo above, you can see a great egret and some pre-babies, errr, I mean eggs, in a nest. And in the photo below, you can see a baby great blue heron with her mother. Imagine the shots I could get with something longer than a 300mm lens. Donations cheerfully accepted.

Dinner Time

Here's a pair of pictures I got Sunday. The great blue heron above has gotten a small snake for dinner. The one below has caught a large fish (with a little help from a human fisherman) and is about to swallow it whole. This makes me appreciate the can of soup I had for dinner so very much more...

More March

The picture this week is yet another rerun that sharp-eyed viewers will remember. I caught this reddish egret in mid-yawn down at Nokomis Beach at the North Jetty. There's some pretty funky stuff going on down in his mouth.

Hat Art

I suppose it could be argued that I'm not the most cultural of folks. But in an attempt to counter that, here's a little bit of high-class sculpture for you. This was out front of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens this morning. I guess it's supposed to represent a woman reading a book while wearing a funny hat and a rather bustled-up dress. OK, whatever.

Rerun

I find myself taking the same pictures over and over again, sometimes in the same spot, sometimes in a different location. Here's another variation on a shot you've seen again and again and again. This sky/water combo was shot at Quick Point Nature Preserve on Longboat Key in Sarasota, Fl.

Blue Eyed Birdie

I love these cormorants, with their bright blue eyes.

March Madness

The calendar page for this week is a rather spectacular bromeliad in the midst of blossoming. This plant is normally all green, but the leaves begin to turn a brilliant red when the time is right. The white bulb near center will continue to grow until it erupts into a large display of purple flowers. Pretty cool, eh? The little round item you see on the bulb is an acorn that fell down from an oak tree above. The leaves on this plant are pretty spiny, so I couldn't get in there and remove it.

Tis The Season

The mating season, that is. Take a close look at this great egret, and you'll see the tell-tale signs that he's ready to breed. The skin around the eyes has turned a bright green, and he's grown long decorative feathers that flow in the breeze. I'm saying it's a he, but I don't know for sure. I think both sexes exhibit these changes.

March, Smarch

It may be the third day of March already, but I've neglected to get you a monthly calendar page. Until now, that is. Here's a great shot of the Cleveland skyline reflected in the Cuyahoga River. This was shot from the Hope Memorial Bridge (again) one day last year. Hard to believe that this is the same river that you've seen in some of my other pictures taken in much more rural areas. At one time, this river was so polluted, it actually caught fire. Not much chance of that these days, though. I waited and waited to try and catch one of the huge ships that ply up and down this river, but to no avail. They are so large I can't imagine how they traverse the winding river, but they do, with the help of very experienced tugboat drivers. Hopefully I'll catch one of those next trip.

A Little Bit Of March

For the beginning of March, I've got this great shot of a large fishy swimming across the front of a large glass tank. Look closely to the left, and you'll see a girl who's entranced by the sight. I shot this at Disney's Animal Kingdom, which is pretty neat, if you've never had the pleasure.

The Last Little Bit Of February

Another week, another photo. We're back in Ohio this week with a quaint barn I stumbled across while slightly lost. I think this was somewhere off 303, but I'm not sure. That dome you see near the center of the roof is actually a silo behind the barn. I think the unique roof shape is due to the need for it to shed snow in the winter. We certainly don't see barns of this shape in Florida. (Hmmm, I seem to have shared this picture before in a different format...)

Peacock (Not Peahen)

I think I mentioned the peacocks of Longboat Key a few weeks ago. Well, here's a quick shot of one from this afternoon. There must have been twenty of them wandering around while I was there. Unfortunately, none of them were doing the classic mating display of the tail feathers, so this head shot is all I have to share. Not too shabby though.

Birds & Bridges

I can never pass up a shot of a big bird in front of a bridge.

With And Without

Today's lesson: The polarizing filter. Take a look at the shot above and compare it to the one below. I took these two pictures today about 5 minutes apart. The one above was through a polarizing filter, the one below without the filter. You can see the shot above has bluer skies and deeper green water. You can also see items in the water that are obscured by reflections in the shot below. That's what the filter filters, reflection. Now you know. What you're looking at, by the way, is a sand dredge. It's removing sand from the bottom of the canal at the north end of Anna Maria Island, and pumping it up onto the beach a few hundred yards away.