My childhood dream

| Emily Gooch

Finally… after 46 years of waiting; I fulfilled my childhood dream of shelling on Sanibel Island, in Florida. Last week, I traveled to Sanibel Island for my seashell bucket list vacation. I stayed at the Sanibel Island Beach Resort for three days. The resort was one of the few places that has reopened on the island after the massive destruction of hurricane Ian over a year ago. The whole island was completely decimated by the category 5 hurricane. While there is a great deal of rebuilding, unfortunately, most of the homes and businesses still remained uninhabitable.

It was a very long and bumpy flight to Florida. I definitely did not enjoy the journey, but the destination was stunning. It is an experience I will forever hold dearest in my heart…

After 15 hours, I finally made it to my long awaited destination. I didn’t bring my usual camera gear because my mind was looking forward to just walk aimlessly on long sandy beaches picking up seashells. I took all the photos with my camera phone.

My hotel was only steps away from this awesome view. When I first stepped on the beach, I was overwhelmed by the amount of seashells around me. They were everywhere. I was like a kid in a candy store… picking up almost every shell I see. It didn’t take long before I filled up my three shelling bags.

During my three awesome days, I walked for hours on the beaches, thinking about nothing but the beauty of the seashells. It is amazing what nature can create.

May All Beings Be Happy and Peaceful…

Will work for bread

| Emily Gooch

If you ever feel the need to improve your photography skills, seagulls are a fun and interesting subject to shoot. All you need is a loaf of bread, and they will work hard while you get the opportunity to challenge yourself using all the different settings available on your camera. It’s a fantastic way to learn about your camera and its capabilities that you might not be aware of.

A wanna be seagull…

May All Beings Be Happy and Peaceful…

Harsh light of high noon

| Emily Gooch

In photography, you often hear from the “experts” to avoid shooting at high noon. The harsh light from the high noon sun creates dark shadows and unflattering tones. While I agree that some subjects might be difficult to get a good shot in the harsh light, personally, I enjoy shooting at any time of the day. You never know what interesting images you might get. I like the challenge of shooting in harsh light because it forces me to use a more creative approach with my camera settings and perspective of the subject.

May All Beings Be Happy and Peaceful…

A Sunny Experiment

| Emily Gooch

The weather has been rainy and gray for months… typical winter weather for the Pacific Northwest. Finally this morning, the sun broke through the gray clouds. The sun rays beaming through the trees, creating a majestic moment beckoning to be photographed.

As I walked around the yard looking for more sunny landscape shots, the windmill sculptures in the garden caught my eyes. With the sun rays shining brightly in the background, it was a perfect subject to work on some creative shooting.

While the sculpture is interesting to look at by itself, I try to shoot it from as many different perspective as I can. I began by shooting up close to get rid of the background. With the bright sun in the background, I experimented with different exposures and aperture settings to get the desire effects.

I then manually spin the windmill sculpture in all different directions while trying to keep focus on the spinning elements for the unique shot. This was definitely a good test on my multi-tasking ability… though I think it probably would have been easier if I had put my camera on a tripod.

Happy Monday!