Florida West Coast Surf and Surfers

When you live on the west coast of Florida you don't see signs like this one very often.

But when you do, you either have a hurricane or a cold front bearing down on you.

Back in April, it was a cold front and was too frigid too swim so I spent some time

shooting surf and surfers.

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Beach Moonset and Astro Time-Lapse

Every time we go on vacation I always check to see if there is a chance we
might have dark skies, and I mean dark.
Why? Well, if your a fan of time-lapse, stars are the ultimate subject.
For most of us, light pollution surrounds us every night, only a few stars
might be visible to the naked eye. To shoot a good astro time-lapse you need
to find really dark skies. One of the few places near where I live where you might
get some good darkness is the beach, thank you sea turtles.  On our last
staycation I was lucky to get a balcony room up on a high floor and shot this
moonset and astro time-lapse. I shot it with my old Canon 40D, bad pixels and all.
The first shot is of a waxing crescent Moon and Venus.
The fourth and fifth and sixth shots show how clouds and light pollution
can make shooting stars difficult.
In the world of astro time-lapse it's ok but not great, I always take the opportunity
to practice for when I get some really dark skies.

Years ago I shot this frame from a lower balcony, you can see the tail end of
the milky-way.  The pool and resort lights blow out the foreground.

When I got my first DSLR (Canon 20D) one of the first things I shot was this
long exposure looking at the north star. 

Popular Science Simple Project of the Month

Page 79 of the May 2012 edition of Popular Science.  Low cost kitchen timer
panning units have officially gone mainstream. My Ikea Stam kitchen timer hack
is Popular Science's May Simple Project of the Month. 
I don't know why but there is something about seeing your stuff in print that is always fun.
For those of you just finding my blog and wanting to build this project, my DIY video is
below along with links for other versions of my panning units.
Here is the link for my original Ikea Hack blog post.
This project is best for small point and shoot cameras with built in intervalometers.
I use GoPro Hero cameras with mine, they are cheap, light, durable and
have an internal intervalometer that will run until the battery dies or memory card fills up.
This Ikea Stam Kitchen timer is not strong enough for DSLRs.

Want to see the Ikea Stam in action? Check out this video
If you liked this video please check out my youtube channel and subscribe to Getawaymoments.
Here are a few links I would suggest watching if you want to make your own panning unit.
Egg Timer Timelapse Panning Unit Part 1
Egg Timer Timelapse Panning Unit Part 2
 Egg Timer Timelapse Panning Unit Part 3
 Egg Timer Timelapse Panning Unit Part 4

$6 will add motion to your timelapse.

A GoPro shooting a GoPro Hero2 in action.

There are four different colors to choose from, $1.99 each..

Fun with Macro

I'm a big fan of extreme wide shots and incredible close ups.

To that end I want to celebrate macro.

Macro shows us another world, a microscopic world.

Below you get a glimpse of me using the afternoon sun to help capture

some macro stills and video with my Canon 7D and 65 MP- E.

Photo courtesy of that wicked eye on Mrs. Getawaymoments.

Our screened lanai provided the subjects of this shoot.

In macro, the screen looks like prison bars. 

Meandering Monarchs

It's Spring again, and I find myself neck deep in Florida Monarchs.

There are worse problems to have, and this one I made for myself.

All year round I keep some milkweed growing in my garden to attract and help

Monarchs find a place to lay eggs.  I also try to keep some parsley or dill

growing for swallowtails.  Both are butterflies, so you might expect similar behavior?

Oh no.  Swallowtails lay their eggs, turn to caterpillars eat everything, then find the closest

thing they can find and create a chrysalis.

Monarchs on the other hand are travelers and who knows where they may go.

Lets call it Monarch hide and seek.

Some are lazy and take the closest twig, while others hit the road.

I generally try to keep some on my lanai to protect them from predators, which creates

some of the silliest chrysalis locations.

The photo collage above was created by my lovely wife on PicFrame using her i-phone

posted to her instagram page, check her out  @sottpa

 The photos below are some of our favorite meandering monarchs.

Below that is a list of links to my various butterfly videos.

Enjoy.

Video Links

                  Monarchs caterpillar to chrysalis in HD

                  Monarchs caterpillar to chrysalis timelapse

                  Monarchs eat

                  Monarch birth

                  Swallowtail birth

                  Swallowtail feast

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Strawberry Fields Forever

What does this sea anemone looking thing have to do with strawberries?

Scroll down and see the secret life of a strawberry.

The last few months have taken me out to the never ending

 strawberry fields of Plant City Florida, the home of winter strawberries.

The Strawberry Festival is this week, check it out and the video I made last year.

Red strawberries get all the attention, so take a second and enjoy

the beautiful white strawberry flower.

Lido Beach Sunset with a Canon 7D

I can never get enough of a quiet evening on the beach watching the sun

slip away ending another day.  Our last few mini breaks we have stayed

on Lido Beach in Sarasota Florida.

On our last stay I broke out my under used Canon 7D and tried my best to

re-introduce my self to all the settings and difficulties of shooting video

with a DSLR.  One thing that is definitely hard is trying to follow

focus with a lens that was never intended to be used for video.

The results of my evening shoots are below, and a fun shot

my wife got of a suspicious beach walker and her dis-shoveled

husband.