2020 Photography Favorites (Part 3)

Welcome to Part 3 of my favorite images from 2020. As with before, these are in no particular order. Ok, lets get to it! This first image was taken during the Summer when temps and humidity here are almost out of control, so night shooting is the way to go. Luckily, the Milky Way is high in the sky these months. As with most milky Way shooting it helps to have an compelling foreground and this one fit the bill for me. This is one of the beach pavilions at the Navarre Marine Park, the Milky Way was making a nice arc over the top, I lined everything up and took the shot. I didn't realize until I was processing the photo, that I had also caught the lightning storm off to the east in the shot. This made for a pleasant surprise and came away as one of my favorites.


This low hanging storm blew in with a vengeance, just a few miles west of here and over my house. Once it passed, I headed down towards Navarre Beach to see if I could capture the dramatic sky of the passing storm. Well, from here, the clouds only had subtle drama to them, but it was the sunset behind them that drew me to this shot. A long exposure to smooth the water, the condo lights turned on and the red sky all made for a subtle favorite.


This was one of those times I just felt like getting out and shooting, I didn't know what yet, just wanted to get out. So, I headed to the beach, the clouds looked low on the horizon so I wasn't expecting much. As I was walking out on the boardwalk from a pavilion, this happened within a matter of seconds, I rushed to get set up and start shooting. Thank goodness, the color actually stayed in the sky for quite a while as sunsets go, so I was able to settle down and get this shot when the light as at its peak.


This one took me completely by surprise. I was set up to shoot what was beginning to look like a beautiful sunset over this salt marsh pond. Sunset was to the right of the frame, as I was waiting I turned around and saw this large wall cloud coming in from the east, bringing a huge downpour with it. I abandoned my sunset comp (for obvious reasons...lol) and focused on getting this storm as it moved in. I fired off several shots before packing up and running to a pavilion for cover. Now funny thing is, this storm dumped a large amount of rain on the beach just over the dune in the background, but not a drop where I was....sometime luck just prevails.


My fellow photographer friend and I took out early one morning in search of cypress trees to shoot, however we soon learned, that without a boat we stood little chance of getting the kind of shots we were after. We ended up at Morrison Springs County Park in NW Florida before sunrise in hopes we could find something to shoot from the shore. There is a short boardwalk along with a beach area to shoot from, however the boardwalk seemed to be the best option. As the sun rose and began to reveal the landscape around the spring, the west side trees and this small swimming platform lit up. I loved how the blue ladder stood out against the golden foliage along with the reflections on the still water. I framed up a few different shots and came away with this one as a favorite.


Again from Morrison Springs, while waiting for the sun to rise, this small group of tree was just right off the dock we were shooting from. The soft predawn light was lighting up these cypress while still leaving the shoreline in darkness. I liked the shot itself, but it was missing something and that was separation from the background. Well with a little creative editing, I was able to achieve the look I was going for. Giving the background a soft focus and highlighting the green branches of the tree made this shot a favorite.

Well, we have come to the end of part 3. I hope you enjoyed the read and images, as much as I enjoyed the adventure to capture them. So, until next time................................
 

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