Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Northeast Florida Photos


Jerry took tons of photos of birds but hasn't gone through all his yet. I only took over 100 but he has about 700! So you have to look at mine until he gets all sorted :)

Every day at low tide, he'd go out and photograph the rocks and other critters (starfish, crabs, a little blue heron that fed on the fish that were stranded when the tides went out) in the rocky area left bare of water. Then at high tide, he'd go stalk the birds (Royal Terns mostly) as they came in closer to us to feed and squawk and mate (yes, right on the beach in front of everyone!)















Every morning the sun climbed up from the water's edge into the sky - sometimes clouds created some nice colors, other times it was much more subtle.




We went into St. Augustine and walked a bit, bought some things for my sister as a thank you for watching Smudge while we were gone. Went to the St. John's Pier to see the pelicans and other birds.

We walked the 219 steps up the lighthouse and saw a private gallery showing of oil paintings of parts of lighthouses (including the lens parts) by artist, Mary Shelton. It was private because the gallery was closed when we arrived Sunday the 26th but they let us in when I said that was one reason we came to visit (as we'd done the Lighthouse before). It is amazing how many women are terrified of heights, and yet, let their significant others (men) talk them into going up and out at the top of the lighthouse.

And we took some nature walks to view the flowers and other critters (leaping lizards all over the place). And, of course, spent a day at the Alligator Farm watching the herons, ibis, spoonbills, woodstorks, and egrets all building nests, watching eggs or raising chicks.













So that's all for now. Hope you enjoy them. Next batch will be from the Jacksonville Zoo (wait until you see the American flamingos!!!)




3 comments:

debwardart said...

You've got wonderful sunset and lighthouse pix - will be great for future paintings. Also like the flower and bird (egret??) and I could stoop down and pick up those shells! You mut be taking photography lessons from Jerry (he better watch out for the competition).

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Deb. So many photos just that I took with my little FujiFilm 500 - it has been a great camera for me. And, uh, no, I really know nothing about Shutter Speed and F-Stops and Aperture and everything else although Jerry tries to tell me and my eyes glaze over! ha ha I do set my white balance and the ISO and think about shutter priority if I need to capture something moving. I guess I figure why learn all this when I have Jerry to take the really good photos? Those shells were everywhere and so tiny I only found about a dozen really good ones to bring home. The white bird was a snowy egret - I like their golden feet.

Myrna Wacknov said...

Rhonda, contact me through e-mail. I have a gift for you.