SPI Convention Center & Nature Walk

Our 2nd day was overcast and it rained a little, so I had an idea and went to the nature walk behind the convention center.
My third visit over the years and I have yet to spot an alligator in the thick grove of cattails where they are supposed to live.
No matter, I saw plenty of nature including an egret and a heron that I caught in the same photo.
(Side note: After decades of rumors about alligators in San Antonio which most residents vigorously deny, we had one walk across a highway last month and another that was killed by law enforcement after getting aggressive in a residential area. I have always kept my eyes peeled for them hoping to obtain proof. Now I'll have to switch to jaguars, black panthers and the chupacabra.)

The footbridge shown above quickly splits into two, one that stays over the marsh and this one that extends out a fair piece over the waters of the Laguna Madre.

I like the diagonality of it, and the storm clouds.


Just as a tease, I wanted to point out that I was on the island on the 4th, and spent several hours that night at a marina.

The Hotel Next Door

Cocktails and a tripod strike again.
Palm trees, and mixed light types for color.

Sand

A sand dune between our hotel and the beach, at night.


The beach wasn't as well lit as this long exposure would suggest.


A railroad vine reaches across the dune, trying to expand the plant's territory. In a few weeks it will blossom with many purple/pink flowers.
This is an infrared photo from our second day, when storm clouds threatened rain but didn't deliver much.
It was nice and cool for a change, so I spent over an hour on the beach, which is rare for me.
As a teen I spent altogether too much time at the beach during summer vacations, so I'm still sick of sand and sunburns to this day.

Palm At Night

As the other guests and our family get their vacation partying going, I explore alone the hotel property looking for photo ops.
I'm armed with camera-on-tripod and a cold vodka cocktail in a huge San Antonio Spurs cup, among other things.

It was very hot and humid, so condensation on my lens was a bit of a problem.
As long as five minutes outside with the lens cap off was needed to get the glass warm enough to bother cleaning it, but then the Zeiss pre-moistened lens cloths really shined. The alcohol in them displaced the water very nicely giving me clear optics.
I guess what I'm saying is that alcohol in several forms is required for night photography at the beach.

Another Palm Tree Photo

And this isn't going to be the last one, either.
Looks like "normal" exposures bore me to death these days.
I find that if I'm not using some flash, doing long exposures at night, or shooting IR, I just don't feel inspired and don't like the results.

Maybe it's just a temporary madness.

South Padre Island 2007

These palms in my favorite spot will start this year's visit to South Padre Island and Port Isabel.
Didn't shoot much due to bad weather and a desire to just relax and get my drinks down, but I have a few goodies to show off.

I think I'll be posting single photos every day--when I tried that on Flickr after my recent Corpus Christi trip it was more fun that way.