A New Experience

Click on enclosed photos to enlarge

We live on the Atlantic coast of Florida, pert-near exactly half way between Jacksonville and Miami.

Big Sis on beach.

It's a sixteen hour drive to visit my family in Louisiana.  I don't see my family much.

In the two years since I had seen my Big Sis, she had gone from someone interested enough in photography to buy a nice Sony super-zoom point and shoot camera to take concert pictures of her many Keith Urban concert attendances, to someone who bought a nice Sony dSLR and had taken photography courses and become truly hooked on landscape photography.

Big Sis came and visited us in Palm Bay in mid-July. 

We had a lot of fun just cramming everyone in the car and going and seeing local stuff that she could not see in Louisiana.

Great Blue Heron.

Lots of bayous in Louisiana, hence lots of opportunity to photography many of the same birds we have down here.  But to her surprise, the same birds down here will let you get as close as ten feet or so before walking away to keep a distance from you and your camera.

Our birds are used to lots of people around, and in fact, they'll stand around near any fishermen, which are pretty much at every park and pier around here, and hope for some fish guts if the the fishermen catch anything.

Needless to say, we took hundreds of photos of birds, boats, sunsets, etc.

But it was just great to have her here, see her and talk with her.  The photography was just icing on the cake.

Amazing Sunset Ends Rainy Day

The first full day she was here will give you an idea of the kind of nice happenings that we encountered while she was here.

She got to our home late on a Tuesday night, so we all slept late the next day, lazed about the house and ate lunch.

By noon it had become overcast and rained a good portion of the afternoon.

Around 6pm, looking east from our home, we could see some blue sky out over the Atlantic.

Stand-up Paddle Boarder / Sunset

We piled in the car and headed toward the beach hoping that the rain would stop enough to get out and take some photos.

We went to the beach, and took some photos, and the clouds above us on the beach began to break up. (see first photo of Big Sis at top of page)

We moved to a park along the Indian River Lagoon (Intercoastal Waterway) where we hoped to see at least a mediocre sunset over the Lagoon.

What ended up happening was one of the best sunsets we have ever seen down here, and we've seen some doozies.

We had several different experiences like this, just getting out regardless of weather, and the weather would clear and create amazing vistas to photograph.

Her week here went by in a flash and it's hard to believe it's already been several weeks since she left.

But we all had a great time with her, and it was a new experience for me to have a close family member to talk photography with.  Lots of fun!

Gorgeous Colors Bring Unforgettable End to an Otherwise Rainy Day