Category Archives: INSIDE FLORIDA

I'm not a car photographer, but…

December 13, 2015Daytona, INSIDE FLORIDAAntiques, Cars, hot rodEd Rosack

With any endeavor, you have to sometimes push yourself and attempt things outside your comfort zone. And the stated purpose of this blog is to let people know about photo ops in our area. So, when my friend Vince W. told me he had extra tickets to the 42nd Annual Daytona Turkey Run Hot Rod Show and Swap Meet at the Speedway in Daytona Beach and invited me along, I was more than willing to go see what it was all about.

Intake manifold

Well, it’s all about cars and car parts. You can see all kinds of vehicles from fully restored antiques to low riders, dune buggies, and yes – “parts cars”. And you can buy or trade autos and parts of all descriptions. So many that I don’t know how they keep track of them all.

As far as photo ops are concerned, there are many of those too. The place is crowded, with people as well as cars. Like I said, I’m not usually a car photographer and I found it tough to isolate my subject in the composition. I’d suggest a wide-angle lens that would let you get in close but still fit the cars in your frame. Or bring a telephoto or macro lens so you can concentrate on details.

Surfin’ Cadillac

I enjoyed the experience. If you have any interest in car photography, antique autos, hot rods, or you just need some parts, you should go to the next show. It’s held on Thanksgiving weekend & the 4th weekend in March each year. You can click on the link in the first paragraph for more info on their site.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos out of your comfort zone!

Annual "Cracker Christmas" event

December 5, 2015Fort Christmas, INSIDE FLORIDAblack and white, Civil War, musicEd Rosack

Fort Christmas is holding its annual “Cracker Christmas” event this weekend (5 and 6 December). There’s a lot to do there today and tomorrow with pioneer homes, museums, live music, demonstrations, a civil war camp, crafts for sale, and plenty of food to eat.

There are also a few photo ops.

Skeeter Creek Band

Civil War Re-enactor

If you haven’t been, I recommend it. You should plan to get there early, since the traffic builds up as the day goes on.

You can read more about Fort Christmas on the blog here. And you can look at more photos from there in this album on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2015, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

November 25, 2015INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Jesup, VARIOUSbirds, Wild TurkeyEd Rosack

In the United States, we observe the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow. Traditionally, it’s a time to celebrate, give thanks for the harvest, and to eat too much.

Winter Springs Wild Turkey – At Central Winds Park, not far from our home

For me personally, it’s not about the harvest, but instead about all the good things I have in my life to be grateful for. No day goes by without me being thankful for my blessings.

I wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving and continued good harvests and blessings in your lives.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go count your blessings!

Viera Wetlands – 11/20/15

November 22, 2015INSIDE FLORIDA, Viera Wetlandsbirds, black and white, Flowers, insects, people, reflection, TamronEd Rosack

I slept in a bit Friday. Instead of getting up for sunrise, I met Kevin M. at 7am to go to Viera Wetlands. I know, I know – missing dawn is for photo wimps. Well, don’t do as I do – do as I say! Get up for sunrise!

On the way, we stopped by the boat ramp at SR 520 and the St. Johns River for a few minutes. Water Lily photos are a bit cliché, but I like how the tear in the leaf only shows in the reflection.

Reflection Imperfection

This is a popular place to launch boats. I caught this one coming back into the ramp and liked the way the wake patterns look.

A boat on the St. Johns River

There were a few herons along the boardwalk and a great many Swallows – which I have trouble photographing. They seem to almost always be in the air and change directions before I can track them. My Tamron 150-600mm lens was also acting up. For some reason, it has an intermittent focusing issue. After I use it a while, the focus seems to slow and then stop. Usually I can turn the camera off and back on and it will work again, but yesterday that didn’t help. I did some research on-line when I got home and many folks are complaining about this. Two of my friends have this lens and theirs sometimes do it too. I cleaned the contacts on the lens and camera – maybe that will fix it. If not, Tamron has a 6 year USA warranty.

When we got to Viera Wetlands, the road was closed (lots of rain lately), so we got to walk the circuit around the nearest ponds. There are very few ducks so far. But there were lots of Wrens, Terns, herons,and egrets. We also had a Black Crowned Night Heron, an Osprey fishing, an American Eagle fly over, a Caracarra, a Harrier, and a Belted Kingfisher – all in the distance. I missed getting a photo of the eagle because I was fooling around with my phone. Again, don’t do as I do – do as I say! Quit messing with your phone!

Forster’s Tern in flight – and example of when my Tamron would focus

Kevin spots things all the time that I don’t notice. He discovered an American Bittern back in the reeds. They have very effective camouflage. It took me several minutes to find it – even with him telling me where it was.

Flower and fly – Another flight shot

The Click ponds have been closed for a while. They’re open now but almost empty of birds. Maybe next time.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Life gives you photos … and photos give you life

November 8, 2015INSIDE FLORIDA, Merritt Island NWRbirds, boat, BPWD, landscape, reflection, sunriseEd Rosack

After getting back from an exotic, far away spot (Death Valley), I returned to a nearby, familiar Florida locale yesterday.

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, but there are 57 posts where I write about it here on the blog. Make that 58 now.

Another Merritt Island Morning – I combined multiple frames to get everything in focus and well exposed. Blended manually in Photoshop.

Why do I like going there so much? Even after so many visits, it’s impossible to see everything it has to offer. I appreciate getting to know a place and watching it change over time. I enjoy seeing the same locations in different light or weather, with different birds around.

Not Birds of a Feather – An interesting group of at least four species

I do know that every time I visit, I see something beautiful – either something new, or something commonplace, but in a new light.

“We do these things not to escape life, but rather so life does not escape us.” From a favorite t-shirt

And yes, sometimes I get back and the photos I made aren’t very good. But I still have a wonderful day. Much better than the owner of this boat had.

Sunken Sailboat – On this one, I also combined multiple frames to ensure everything was sharp and to emphasize the smooth water.

Henri Cartier Bresson said that “You just have to live and life will give you pictures.” And I think my t-shirt is right too. Going after photos will give you life.

You can view many more Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge photos in this album on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go live life – and make some photos!

Photographing Florida Weather

October 17, 2015Casey Key, INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Jesup, Lake Jesup Sunflowers, Merritt Island NWR, VARIOUSbeach, black and white, BPWD, cloud, infrared, landscape, stormEd Rosack

Florida has wonderful weather photography opportunities. They’re not often the kind that you see from tornado alley out west. But the clouds here are awesome too.

Lynn and I traveled recently (New Jersey, Virginia, and Georgia). I realized when going through those photos that they lacked dramatic skies like we often see here in Central Florida. Maybe our timing was just bad. Anyway, it inspired me to put together this post with some examples of our weather along with a few hints.

We’d had several days of rain last August and even though afternoon light isn’t usually the best for photography, I decided to drive over to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and see if I could capture some of the weather drama. This one is from the south-east side of the causeway. There was a slight drizzle where I was standing and rain drops ruined several frames. This one must have been right after I cleaned the lens.

Weather over the Water (24mm focal length)

And this one was that same day, looking south along the back side of Black Point Wildlife Drive.

Storm Ahead (stitched panorama, nine frames at 24mm focal length).

This next photo is from September of 2012, also at Black Point Wildlife Drive. These clouds actually stopped me in my tracks and made me shift out of bird photography mode to make this B&W, IR image. You can see a color version of this here.

A little stormy (stitched panorama, three frames at 24mm eq. focal length).

These next two have been on the blog before, but they also illustrate my point: Clouds and storms in Central Florida are photogenic!

Stormy Shore: Storm clouds blow through north of our hotel on Casey Key, Florida. June 15, 2015 (stitched panorama, eight frames at 24mm eq. focal length).

And this last photo is from way back in October 2007. I put it in to honor our fading Lake Jesup sunflower season.

Lakes Jesup Wildflowers and Rainstorm (105mm eq. focal length).

We don’t have mountains here in Central Florida. And we don’t have very good waterfalls either. But our clouds are just as good as anywhere else. How are they where you are?

Photo hints:

Although you can see interesting weather all year, the best time here is summer afternoons and evenings.
The storms are big. As you can see from the captions, many times I find myself using a wide-angle lens or stitching panoramas for this kind of photography, although some situations (like the last image) benefit from a longer focal length.
You can shoot from your car in many cases or just dodge the showers. Do bring a lens cloth and maybe a towel or some plastic to cover your camera if it’s not weather resistant.
Be careful with your exposures. If you have clear sky behind the clouds you can easily blow out highlights in the image which will be tough to fix in post.
When processing your photos, try using some mid-range contrast / clarity to bring out details in the clouds. Don’t go too far though or your results will look unrealistic.
Find yourself some good foreground locations so you’ll be ready to head out when the weather gets interesting.
And be careful – don’t get struck by lightning or ruin your equipment!

If you click on the photos above, you can see larger versions on Flickr and I also collected other Florida Cloud and Storm photos that you can browse in this set on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some cloudy photos!

Beauty and Bugs in the Soggy Swamp: Sunflowers, 2015

October 10, 2015INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Jesup, Lake Jesup Sunflowers, Sanfordblack and white, Flowers, Lake Jesup Conservation Area, landscape, Marl Bed Flats, SunflowersEd Rosack

I don’t know how long the Sunflowers have staged their fall nature extravaganza along the north side of Lake Jesup near Sanford Florida. I’ve been photographing them since 2006, and my first post about them was in October 2007 – a few months after I began the blog.

I didn’t make it last year and just had to see them this time, so off I went yesterday morning (October 9) to the Marl Bed Flats in the Lake Jesup Conservation area.

Looking up

The flowers are just about in peak bloom. If you want to hike out there, you’d better make plans quickly. The blooms only last a couple of weeks, so by next weekend, they’ll be fading.

Monochrome flowers

The flowers are beautiful, but the bugs are swarming. I didn’t make any photos of the insects, but I did bring home souvenir mosquito bites. Wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt and use insect spray too. It’s also wet. I didn’t get far from the forest edge – but the water was already several inches deep. Waterproof boots are a great idea.

Lake Jesup Sunflowers at Marl Bed Flats

There are other things to see out there too. It’s a good local birding spot with at least two Bald Eagle nests reported.

When you go, please be careful. Don’t stop on the side of 417 – it’s dangerous! It’s a bit of a hike from the parking area out to the flowers. And it’s still hot – wear a hat and bring water with you.

The Lake Jesup Wilderness area really is wild – I’ve seen bobcats and worried about wild hogs. I haven’t seen any snakes, but I’ll bet they’re around. And Lake Jesup has one of the densest populations of alligators in Florida. So enjoy, but be careful!

You can browse some of my photos of the area in this set on Flickr. I also have more info on the area collected in these older articles:

And here are some more Florida Sunflower links you might find interesting:

~~Kelly Del Valle’s post about her trip this year~~ (sorry – no longer available)
Jeff Stamer’s post (with excellent directions) about his trip this year
And a post on Florida Rambler about Florida Sunflowers in other locations

For reference, here’s a Lightroom map of the area with the locations of photos I’ve made out there. The streets leading in are also shown, so you can see how to get there (click for a larger version).

Marl Bed Flats area on the north shore of Lake Jesup

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Winter Park at Night

October 3, 2015INSIDE FLORIDA, Winter Parkblack and white, buildings, fountain, night, trainEd Rosack

Greetings, wonderful readers! Things are a bit busy here at the Central Florida Photo Ops HQ this weekend, so I’ll leave you with a quick post and some photos from a stroll down Park Avenue through Winter Park last Wednesday evening.

A quiet night “on the avenue”

A path into darkness

Blue Hour Motion – A train passing behind one of the fountains in Winter Park, Florida

I made these a little after sunset during “blue hour” – I like the look of the light. You can see a few other photos I’ve made in Winter Park in this album on Flickr.

Sunflower update: The flowers are in bloom and are peaking. If you want to see them this year, you should probably do so in the next week. Here’s a report from Jeff Stamer’s blog on his trip out there last week.

I haven’t made it yet this year, but plan to do so next week.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now, go make some photos!

Lake Toho

September 27, 2015INSIDE FLORIDA, KissimmeeFish, lighthouse, Osprey, reflection, snail kite, sunriseEd Rosack

Kevin McKinney wanted to go by Shingle Creek for a sunrise photo and I’ve wanted to do that too. We went last Saturday – and found out that park doesn’t open until 8am. A little late for sunrise. 🙁

Fortunately we got there early enough for our backup plan to work and we ended up in Kissimmee along the Lake Tohopekaliga shoreline. They have a park there too – and it was open. 🙂

Lake Toho light at dawn

There’s a little lighthouse at the end of the jetty and the protected water makes for some nice reflections.

We saw a few birds hunting the shoreline close by that turned out to be Snail Kites. I’ve only ever seen these before at Viera Wetlands and didn’t get a very good photo. This one perched nicely for a minute or so before flying off.

Snail Kite

And this Osprey flew by with its morning meal. I like sushi too, so I went ahead and make a photo of it.

Another Osprey with a “take-out” breakfast

A pleasant morning after all and I’m glad the backup plan worked.

Reminder – it’s that time of year again: The Lake Jesup flowers are getting ready to bloom. I got an email last week from my on-line friend Jeff Stammer. He’s already been out to Marlbed Flats to check on the flowers. He says that while it isn’t as wet as last year, it is quite grown up with tall plants and there aren’t as many cow or horse paths as there have been in the past. So the hiking may be tougher than usual. I skipped going last year and regretted it. I’m going to try hard to get out there this year. When we drove by Friday evening we could already see some yellow color. I think they’ll start to really peak in a week or two.

Maybe I’ll see you there!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!