Merritt Island Adventure

Rather than getting up at zero dark thirty to shoot sunrise and birds, I decided to wait until the afternoon to check out Merritt Island Wildlife Preserve. My thinking was that the birds off shore would not be back lit. Unfortunately there weren't many birds. No ospreys diving for fish, very few wading birds and the ones I saw were in the wetland areas and too far away. I did find some stilts and other shore birds. It seemed like the vegetation had grown and the views were more obstructed than before. When I got to the end of Bio Lab Road (after driving for 6 miles) there was a gate across the road. I had to turn around and drive the 6 miles back and hope they didn't block the other end as well.

The last stop was at the Max Brewer Bridge to wait for sunset. The sun actually sets to the side of the bridge making the possible compositions limited. Fortunately the sky opposite the sunset was much more dynamic and colorful. I was wishing there was a spot on the south side of the bridge to shoot but there is a condo complex which is private with no access to their docks. The bridge is quite impressive with just the lights on it. This will be a repeat location to look for more possiblilites.

Sunset at Lake Eustis

Our photo group was limited to two of us but we made a trip to Eustis to Ferran Park. The sunset is across the lake, so its a perfect spot. There is a dock-walkway so many different perspectives for shooting. The lake was choppy so I pulled out the Lee Big-
stopper for most of the images until it was pretty dark.



One of several boat docks

One of the entrance gates to the walkway



Grasses were swaying in the breeze

Saturday Night in Sanford

Made a return trip to Sanford to hopefully take photos of Lake Monroe, the marina and an outstanding sunset. Well, two out of three isn't bad. Clouds were just a little too dense to allow any sunlight through so we just waited until blue hour to photograph the marina.

From Sunrise to Sunset

After the photo outing to photograph the "Super Moon" was mostly a bust, I was wanting more success and some nice photos. Sunday morning I made the trek out to the Orlando Wetlands to catch a sunrise. This was my first time there for a sunrise so I wasn't sure what to expect. Some brush fires nearby helped the situation by providing some particles in the atmosphere for the sun to reflect on. It turned out to be very pretty. At the same time was I watching the moon set but too many clouds made it difficult to see.

Orlando Wetlands at Sunrise

Later that evening a group of us went to Lake Apopka at Magnolia Park to catch the sunset. It was an awesome sunset with the reflections on the lake.

Another Sunrise in Titusville

I love going over to Titusville for the sunrise because it is probably the closest place to home. Also, there are several different locations there to photograph from. There are old and new wooden piers, marinas and the new Max Brewer bridge. With a little more time I will explore areas on the other side of the bridge. Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge doesn't open until sunrise so it may not be an option. This morning I decided to shoot at Spaceview Park with the wooden pier in the foreground. I am still getting used to working with the Lee Big Stopper ND filter and getting the correct exposures. It seems there is a fine balance between getting a long enough exposure to make the water silky without blowing out the sky and sun rising.

This could be breaking the rules, but I like symmetry.



Sunrise at Space View Park, Titusville

Once the sun is up it's time to grab something to eat and decide what else to shoot. I decided to go over to Black Point Drive and see if there was any wildlife. It was kind of quiet with only a handful of birds, mostly tricolored herons. It was still early so I drove over to Haulover Canal to see the reported manatees and then as was suggested went to explore the Bio Lab Road. This was a great suggestion, as there were lots of Osprey diving for fish, small shore birds such as black-necked stilts, roseate spoonbills, various seagulls, dragonflies and plenty of vultures. I plan to return soon as this was a great find. A great deal of the road runs very close to the water so it was very scenic. I have heard that alligators are a common site, but I didn't see any this trip. The only down side were the no-seeums and the horse and deer flies which were fierce at times.

A One foot grab