Black & White Wednesday

My boat is waiting patiently...

I usually carry the boat down to the water first and then return for the rest of my gear. This day was no exception. I can carry everything down in one trip but two is much easier. When the water is this dark you get the nice reflections. The tannins in the water made it the darkest I have seen water in a while. I saw my share of dark water when I used to clean boat bottoms. I would dive somedays and would have zero visibility. Some days I could hold my dive light out at arms reach and not be able to see it shining at my face. Days like that are great for reflections but bad for working under water. 

Black and White Wednesday, Juniper Creek

These are more pictures of Juniper Creek. These have been converted to Black and White. They have the feel of old time Florida. If you can overlook the kevlar canoe and imagine an old wood and canvas canoe. The scene would look the same.

We actually had to paddle under that log. Laura is approaching the log and getting ready to duck under. It was pretty close for her. I can't imagine what I looked like going through in my canoe.
We passed by this old tree. I was thinking this would be a perfect place for an Osprey or a hawk to hang out and watch for fish and stuff passing by. Then the bird could swoop down out of the tree and catch lunch.

I hope you have enjoyed todays pictures.

Black & White Wednesday

These pictures are from my recent trip to the Wacissa River. These were all converted from color to Black and White in Photoshop. I came across this Moorhen standing in these cattails. He was standing still like he was hiding, Maybe if he stood still enough I would not see him.

This Great Blue Heron was hanging out on the river taking in the sights. He had a nice perch on this log. 
This Snowy Egret was running around on the weeds looking for lunch. He looks so skinny in this picture. These birds are so light they can walk around on the weeds looking for their meals.
Enjoy, 

Peace
  

Black & White Wednesday Lake photos

Top of the Morning

This first picture was actually taken in color. The Anhinga and the sky provide the blacks and grays. So I am calling this a black and white photo. This bird had landed on the tree and then climbed up to the top. A few minutes later he was joined by another bird and the battle for king of the hill ensued. This fellow finally won, having the high ground gives you a big advantage.

Needle in a hay stack

Find the birds hidden in the photo. There are 6 of them. The first 5 are pretty easy to find and the 6th bird is a little harder. There are 3 different species.
2 Younglings

These 2 younglings were hanging out pretty much on their own. While all the other birds were up in the trees these 2 were standing down closer to the water. This did tend to get them away from most of the hubbub going on up in the trees.

Black and White Wednesday, Exchange Island

Usually B&W pictures look good but for this subject it doesn't matter. This is just somebody's mess plain and simple. There is just no good reason for people to leave a mess like this. If they ever want to go back to this spot it is covered in trash. I would hate to plan an outing and be greeted by this. The sad thing is to get to Exchange Island you have to go by boat. So stuff like this can't be blamed on any one except the people that are actually using this island. 

PLEASE TAKE YOUR TRASH WITH YOU WHEN YOU LEAVE!!!

Here are some nicer looking pictures. These flowers are nice they have great colors (see the Post below) They also look good in B&W because of the contrast.
This Egret was taking off as I came around a bend. Look at that wingspan. These birds are great flyers and are really good at fishing. 
I spent most of my time picking up trash on this trip so I didn't take too many pictures. I did go home with 2 bags of trash, a milk crate and a boat fender. Which I gave to one of the power boaters that was launching at the ramp when I got back. 

Black and White Wednesday, Exchange Island

My canoe awaits me.

I landed in the lagoon and pulled my boat ashore. The water is very dark here and the lagoon is very protected. In fact it was blowing about 5 kts. out on the river. And being as protected as it was the bugs were very bad. 

This is the view standing where the canoe in waiting. We are looking towards the opening of the lagoon. The water has an almost perfect reflection. 
The next 2 pictures are of the Matthews Bridge. This bridge is tall enough for large ships to go under.
This is after I went through it and turned around to take some pictures of the bridge. 
I hope you have enjoyed these Black and White pictures. I have 2 more posts coming up on this trip so stay tuned.

Black and White Wednesday revisit

I wasn't able to get on the water this past weekend. The weather was bad, We got a new dog and my wife was out of town. So I went through some of my older pictures and found some that I liked. These were taken at Faver Dykes State Park. We went there in November and rented canoes, before I purchased my canoe. I wanted to see if the kids liked it. We had a nice few hours on the water and then a picnic lunch. This is a picture of my wife and kids. She is talking on her blackberry to her mother. The background is nice. We paddled on the river before this picture was taken and then had lunch in this part of the park. The kids were being silly.

My son said take a picture of my shoes. Since it was digital I obliged. This is one of photoshop elements, photo effects. It is remove color. I like how it kept the shoes green and the background fades to black and white. This was all about having a fun day at the park.
 
I hope you have enjoyed some of these pictures. I am sorry I didn't take any out on the water but I didn't want to take my camera. Until I got a dry bag.

Wacissa River Black and White Wednesday

These are some pictures that I took in black and white last weekend on the Wacissa River. This Great Egret was hanging out. I like the breeding plumage.

These two turtles were sitting on a rock enjoying the sun. I like the little Cyprus Tree that is growing there. This was in the middle of the river. I can image in a few decades this will be a small island. 
These moorhens were making a racket and chasing each other around. This was good for me since they came right by. I like the frozen water droplets.
I got a little close to this Great Egret and off he flew.
This is a sepia tone. I sometimes like to change things up a bit. This color conversion was done in photoshop. 

 

Black & White Wednesday

When I first started out in photography I shot mostly black and white film. My Dad converted a shed in the back yard into a darkroom for me. I was able to develop my own photos. Now with the advent of digital I can with the press of a button switch from B&W to color. After being inspired by Peggy's B&W(scroll down on her pictures in February) photos I had to take some of my own. The pictures below were taken on Pellicer Creek.  I went back into the marsh a ways since it was high tide. I was in about a foot of water here. This is looking back out into the creek.

This pictures was taken up another little offshoot. The water was a little deeper but the creek wasn't very wide. I paddled a little further up and then had to back the boat back a couple hundred yards till I was able to turn it around. 
I spotted this house up in the trees. It looks like they have a very nice view of the creek. It is very wide at this point. My only concern would be in a hurricane this house wouldn't have much protection from rising water, and boing under that big oak tree.
 This is one of those falling down docks you see everywhere. The metal roof has seen its share of wind. Sometimes I wonder how these docks are still standing.

I like the texture of the reeds along the marsh. These reeds were growing higher then I was able to see over even sitting in my canoe. I paddled along side of these for a few miles before deciding to take some pictures of this particular bunch. 

I hope you have enjoyed this bunch of pictures. I will keep posting my adventures and I think I will stick with my Black & White Wednesday pictures.