When I started this incredible journey I never thought it would become what it is today.
I first started coming to the Everglades 6 years ago when I first moved to South Florida, and I quickly fell in love with it.
I started photographing it, and quickly realized that this place was very challenging to photograph, but nonetheless it was incredible being out there. I wanted to share this experience with everyone I knew, so I started bringing my friends and family. They all would always smile at the incredible wildlife and sunsets.
I wanted to create an experience where I show people the Everglades from a locals eyes, and cover most of the Southern Part, (the coolest places) and at the same time teach them how to capture it through a lens. I also want to make sure to have people at the perfect spots at the right time. I have been trying to dial this in and I think my self and my team have it down pretty good.
I also wanted to create a sense of community and make everyone feel like family, were we are all friends, and it is amazing how within 20 minutes everyone feels like they are hanging out with their best friends.
My friend Karla reached out to me to do a really cool photoshoot on the beach. Somehting different, somehitng that was not your typical Miami photoshoot on the beach. After she showed me her outfits I imediatelly thought of a goddess with some sort of super power.
I think we accomplished what we were looking for. I mean with such a beautiful and talented model its hard to mess it up. We shot at sunset for about an hour.
The crazy thing about shooting on a public place is that you start to get quite the crowd around you as the shoot goes on, as if it was some sort of public performance… Well I suppose it kind of is.
When I shoot a model, I usually narrow photos down to 1-2 photos. I decided to pic a few so you guys can check them out and see that its possible to get a nice variety of photos with in an hours time. You just have to plan, have a good team around you and execute. You can find Karla here.
It all started the day before, when I decided to go out on my motorcycle. (If you ride then you will understand this read). Next thing you know its really late at night and I had to get home, I had completely lost track of time, and could keep riding through the night. I got home and I fell asleep for about 3 hours before my alarm started going off, super loud, I had forgotten that I had a meeting on the beach to do a shoot at sunrise (I was the model this time, but thats a different story). Feeling like an asshole that I was almost late (maybe 30 minutes late) I threw on a pair of pants, a T-shirt and ran out the door.
When I got to the beach about 3 minutes later I realized it was really really cold, and really really windy. So I pulled out my camera and went to seek for cover. I found a beach hut that was blocking about 90% of the wind. By this time I saw that the sun was coming up and started to scramble to snap a flik. I pulled out a filter and my shutter release cable and thought about a composition in a matter of seconds. I took one photo from here, and thats what you see here.
To this day this is one of my favorite Miami Beach Sunrise photos of all times.
Settings:
102 seconds F13 ISO 100 10 stop ND filter.
The sun rises over Miami Beach painting the sky orange
On this particular trip around South Florida, traveling up the East Coast of Florida to Cocoa Beach and ending up St. Pete. (the West Coast of Florida) I was having so much fun that I extended my stay for 2 more days.
You can expect sunsets like the ones below, without any tourists and without any noise. The very few people you see, disappear right after sunset.
A few days later I headed South towards Naples Florida and ended up in Shell Key, not too far from St. Pete Beach. It looked promising and I almost took a boat ride there. The boat rides costs $20.00 and they take you there and bring you back.
Before I committed to a boat, I decided to take my drone up in the air and see Shell Key for my self. After viewing it from the air, I decided to pass on the boat ride and keep heading South. I made it to Sarasota….
What you see here are some Aerial shots of The Gulfstream Park Racing and Casino. This is a cool spot to come watch horse racing. Its a popular hang out for my pops, and I often come with him to spend some son and dad time and kick back some cold ones :)
I grew up in Nevada so the Casino is not very impressive to me, but the track is really nice and the action is always good.
The pegasus you see, is a new 110 foot tall bronze sculpture that is almost finished. They have been working on it for a while, the estimated cost of the sculpture was 30 million.
PEGASUS BY THE NUMBERS:
What: Pegasus slaying a dragon
Idea conceived: April 2011
Dimensions: 110 feet tall, 115 feet wide, 200 feet long
Materials: Pegasus, 330 tons of steel and 132 tons of bronze; dragon, 110 tons of steel and 132 tons of bronze
Journey to Hallandale Beach: Hundreds of bronze pieces were packed in 26 shipping containers and sent by boat which took about six weeks. The steel was packed in 23 containers and also sent by boat.
Nuts and bolts: 18,000 screws
Workers: More than 200, including four translators
Cost: About $30 million
Construction: Took about eight months and is nearly complete. The landscaping and water feature should be completed by summer 2015. (Via: Miami Herald)
The Everglades National Park is an incredible place. I love it so much because it is unlike any place in the planet, it can be a bit intimidating if you are unfamiliar with it, but once you make a few gator friends and they show you around, its a walk in the park.
