Flowers in the DSLR!

 My husband just bought me a Canon Rebel T3 DSLR camera for an early birthday present - and I'm very excited about it.  Just stepped outside today and got some wonderful photos of flowers in our neighborhood.  Really impressed with the pinpoint focus control.  I love taking pictures using depth of field (where one part of the photo is in focus, and the rest is blurred out) - and this camera is great at letting me select EXACTLY what I want in focus.

I know I said I never wanted to switch from film to digital.  What can I say -  I may be stubborn, but eventually I might do something that's in my own interest.  Maybe.

It is going to take awhile for me to learn how things work with this camera though.

Myakka State Park

One of the places I visited in Florida was Myakka State Park.  This is a huge state park, mostly forested, but with a large lake full of gators and waterfowl.  The have lots of different areas of interest, but I only had time to take a boat tour of the lake, go for a walk along the shore to the berm dam separating the upper and lower lake, and climb the canopy walkway and tower.  I only had an afternoon :)  The boat tour guide and ranger we ran into at the berm dam were very helpful, and this is a great educational opportunity if you have kids.

The first picture above is of a flock of American White Pelicans.  These birds are over 4 ft long, with a wingspan of about 8 ft.  The only larger bird in the US is the condor.  Eek.

I'm posting one of my gator pictures here, even though I have a separate post for these.  Please see "My Gator Badge" if you want more pictures of dangerously close carnivores.

The picture below that is of the Roseate Spoonbill.  The only pink bird native to Florida.  Yes, flamingos can be pink.  No, they are not native.

The tires below are the bumper for when the tour boats dock.  They don't have breaks you see.  A little bit of amusement park ride there. :)

The final pictures are from the Canopy Walkway, tower and trail.  The walkway (below in the picture) is 25 ft up.  The tower is 74 ft. up.  Great views - but you don't realize how high this is until you get up there.  Fortunately for me (I'm afraid of heights), there is a chest high VERY sturdy railing at the top.

Water Like Fire

Anyone who has followed my blog knows how much I like to photograph fire.  I also love smoke, mist, and fog.  The reason is that the patterns and shadings you see in it are always changing.  In fact, it moves so fast, you can't anticipate exactly what you are going to see on the photographs.  You just have to take the photos and trust that somewhere in there is something wonderful.  Then you throw away everything else.

Moving water is like that too.

I was fooling around taking pictures of the surf to see what I could come up with.  I was also considering using one of these as a new background for my blog.  Please let me know what you think - and which you would choose...

Sunset on the Beach

Siesta Key Beach, FL at sunset.  These pictures are in reverse order so that I could put this one at the top.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves this time.

Hippy Beach Party!

One of the places I visited while in Florida is the "Best Beach in the US" according to the orbitz Dr. Beach 2011 blog.

I so believe him.  If this beach were absolutely deserted, I would probably build a palm hut and never leave (except to get fresh water of course).  Pure fine white sand, absolutely NO litter, absolutely gorgeous water and fairly polite people.  They even allowed alcohol.  The only drawback- I went during "spring break", and if you didn't get there super early, you had to cruise the parking lot for quite a while to find parking.  I was told that this isn't usually a problem - and I'm sure it helped limit beach population so that it was still enjoyable.

I also happened to be there late on a Friday afternoon - and they have a Drum Circle starting late afternoon going until sunset.  They had somewhere around 10 drummers in a quarter circle, and an electric guitarist facing them playing beach music that made a fun if weird harmony with the middle eastern drum beats.  Lots of people dancing, ranging from the fantastic (I was told she's a local doctor) to enthusiastic, kids and adults with hula hoops, and a great crowd.

And as an added plus - truly wonderful beach sunset going on while this was happening.  I brought a chair, but never sat in it, because the photography was so great!  I'll post the sunset pictures on a separate blog.

Play a little drum music and enjoy the pictures!

Here's the link for Dr. Beach- 
 http://www.orbitz.com/blog/2011/05/america%E2%80%99s-top-10-beaches-for-2011/

Bird Brain

One of the areas I went to near Sarasota was a wonderful bird preserve right off a main road (Palmer Blvd.).  50 ft away was a busy two lane highway - but you'd never know it once you made your way out on the walkway over this lake.  The birds were posing - I swear!