Gettysburg Sunsets

I know this blog is supposed to be dedicated to real estate and lifestyle in the Ormond Beach area but today I am going to stray a little bit.  I recently took a trip to Southern Pennsylvania to visit my grandfather and was pretty active running around taking some pictures.  One night I wandered over to the Gettysburg battlegrounds at sunset and got some really great shots that I wanted to share with you here.  These were taken from up on a hill overlooking the battlegrounds.  It was a great time of year for the leaves changing colors and luckily it was still also fairly warm too.
I hope you enjoy these:








  


 

Day Trip - St. Augustine

St Augustine is really a wonderful and charming little college town located between Jacksonville and Daytona Beach on the East coast of Florida.  I had the privilege of living there for 2 years while I attended Flagler College.  Even though I only live about 45 minutes away I rarely visit the city as much as I should.  This past weekend I made a trip with my family there for some dinner and shopping.  I, of course, brought along my camera and captured a few good sunset images around the city.



Both of these pictures show the towers that were once part of Henry Flagler's hotel and are now the college.  The second picture was taken down the street that leads to the college.  A special thank you goes out to the lady that probably thought about running me over but instead stopped and waiting while I took the picture.

#flaglercollege #StAugustine #sunsetphotography #hdrphotography

Sunset over the Halifax River in Daytona Beach

Sunset over the Halifax River in Daytona Beach

I took these 2 shots this past Friday from underneath the Seabreeze/Mason Ave bridge in Daytona Beach.  It was actually raining in both of these photos but I was under the cover of the bridge (luckily, since my camera is not waterproof).   The two buildings you see there are the first of 4 condo towers at Marina Grande.  It was actually a failed development that occurred during the real estate bubble burst of 2007-2010.  There are new owners now and they are moving forward with the marina part of the project.

Both of these images are done in HDR and processed through Photomatix.




 

#daytonabeach #florida #sunsetphotography

Daytona Beach under the Pier

I took this picture underneath the pier in Daytona Beach.  I bet it would have been better if I had thought about taking it about 5 minutes earlier but luckily I did catch the full sun in the opening between the pilings.  This is the structure that holds up the restaurants and pier system that goes out in the ocean.  I think I'll have to try it again sometime but for now I thought I would share my first attempt:



The process behind this photograph is called HDR (high dynamic range).  I took three shots here on a tripod with different exposures and then later combined those pictures and was able to pull out the light in the foreground as well as the back round.  It's really the only way I am aware to get a shot like this fully exposed correctly.

#daytonabeach #sunrisephotography #hdrphotography

Daytona Beach Bridge Mosaic Murals

In Daytona Beach the main bridge that connects the peninsula to the mainland in the International Speedway Bridge.  Many people may not know that underneath the bridge on the huge concrete columns that hold it up are a series of mosaic murals.  I recently took this picture of them when I was taking a walk around the City Island Park and the Daytona Beach library.  If you get some time you should go check them out.

 

#daytonabeach #hdrphotography #castlesbythecoast #bridges #florida #art

Daytona Beach Paddle Stars 10K Race

Daytona Beach Paddle Stars Race

This weekend was the paddle stars 10K race off in Daytona Beach.  It included 2 days of racing, Saturday in the Halifax river and Sunday in the ocean.  The grand prize for the lowest combined time was $10,000!  Not too bad.

I kind of stumbled upon this event by chance on Saturday morning.  I was at the farmers market in Daytona Beach on City Island and saw the event set up on the river across the park.  I went over to check it out and happened to catch the Juniors division race.  It was pretty exciting so when I heard they would be racing on the ocean the next day I had to come down and check it out.  Here are a few of the pictures I have processed so far from the event:

The first one is of an athlete before the start of the big race getting her focus.


This second one is of the racers lining up for the start of the race.  This is only a portion of the athletes that were in the race.  There were probably another 25 or so lined up around these people but I thought it looked cool to get the tall guy in the middle to be the center of the line up.



#daytonabeach #castlesbythecoast #paddlestars #hdrphotography #florida #daytonabeachpaddlestars


Tags: Castles by the Coast, Daytona Beach, events, Florida, HDR Photography, Ocean Walk, ormond beach, ormond beach events, Ormond Beach homes for sale, ormond beach life, ormond by the sea, paddle stars, Real estate

Daytona Beach Boardwalk

I spent the evening in Daytona Beach last weekend checking out the free Summer Concert.  It was an Elton John Tribute band that sounded pretty good although I have to admit I didn't hang out around the concert that much.  Instead we walked down the boardwalk and did some people watching and I was playing around with some long exposure photography of the Ferris wheel and various rides on the boardwalk.  He are a couple shots from that night:




This second shot I intentionally left a little "gritty".  I was trying to express the hot, humid, crowded environment.  I am not sure if it worked, but it was my best shot at it.