[zhenya]

Had few minutes to process few shots from my recent trip to central Florida.
I had a chance to take an excursion on the aeroboat through some of the marshes and rivers and was blown away by the old cracker country...
Met some very interesting characters as well... see for yourself...

[zhenya]

And a few more for good measure.

[SouthBayPhoto]

Some very nice shots Gene.

Just curious but are these stills out of a video camera or taken with a regular camera (so to speak)?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by SouthBayPhoto

Some very nice shots Gene.

Just curious but are these stills out of a video camera or taken with a regular camera (so to speak)?

Hi Mat,

No, those are not from video camera. I actually shot those while boat was moving, with Canon's 350D and 17-40 lens. I was afraid to bring anything longer on a boat(read camera bag is heavy ) and as luck would have it it wasn't nearly long enough lens to take anything remotely close. So, some shots are abviously crops, wherever the aligators are large enough to see...
I need some serious practice with paning, as you can see.

Speaking of the boat, captain Don was making some serious moves on that air boat, cuting and turning and such. At one time I thought I'll fall out of it because I was holding the camera instead of the rail.

[SouthBayPhoto]

LOL...I got it.

I was just wondering because I wasn't sure if the photo was from a video camera or maybe a bit overprocessed/sharpened, however, since you were mentioning heavy cropping, that could do it. LOL

They are nice shots though. Ya, for the distance, you probably would have been better off with a 70-200 f/4 or f/2.8 and I can fully understand not wanting to take a big and EXPENSIVE camera bag out on the water in a boat! Sometimes I get paranoid having mine with me on land (it almost got ran over during a motorcycle race one time), let alone a boat! LOL

Just remember...if you're ever going over....make sure to leave the camera in the boat before you go overboard. LOL

[Poseidon]

Great job Gene, those are fun to look at! That 17-40 sure is a sharp lens, I checked the exif, and you had a very slow shutter speed for some of those... 1/40th of a second, and a moving boat make panning very tough.

I love the saturation of the sky, I can never seem to get that deep blue.

Well..... Did you have a good time, it sure looks like it!

[scubadude]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Met some very interesting characters as well... see for yourself...

Hey I think I know that dude in the first few pictures

Great shots Gene...where you just born with a camera in your hand or what?

[zhenya]

Just remember...if you're ever going over....make sure to leave the camera in the boat before you go overboard. LOL

Hah! Not with those 10' aligators in there...

Mike, I had incredible time on that trip. It was a first time for me to see alligators this close, well, close enough for me...
We did came extremely close to one of them but my camera decided to take a break and wouldn't work no matter how hard I tried. It was a first for me so I disconnected the battery grip and after a few seconds of reconnecting it fired back up. The alligator was at least 10-12 feet long according to captain Don. I think it was maybe 10 feet... Big enough to have you for lunch, though.

[Poseidon]

Fantastic Gene! I can't wait for my vacation this year, I booked a Wedding in the Dominican Republic! The most important part of any get away is HAVING FUN!!! The next biggest priority is taking PICTURES!

[Reefland]

That is way too much reptile for me! Great pictures though, I love the reflection of the sky in the water.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

Fantastic Gene! I can't wait for my vacation this year, I booked a Wedding in the Dominican Republic! The most important part of any get away is HAVING FUN!!! The next biggest priority is taking PICTURES!

Good luck on that trip, Mike. Sounds like lots of fun to me.

Will you be bringing family with you? Logan will be big enough to help out dad by now...

[Poseidon]

LOL! Not yet Gene, he is getting there though. It will be the wife and I, the kids will be staying with my sister. I can't wait, it will be our first vacation since our Honeymoon...

[charlie]

Sorry I missed this Gene. Those are some neat shots. I would love to take that trip, that looked like fun. What is the little guy in the last pic?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by charlie

Sorry I missed this Gene. Those are some neat shots. I would love to take that trip, that looked like fun. What is the little guy in the last pic?

Charlie, it was some sort of lizard that I saw hiding around the pool at my friends house. I'm not sure how this lizards get there since pool area is covered in the screen material, but you can see them here and there lounging in the sun.
Like this little fella in this shot...

[charlie]

Looks right at home, doesn't he????

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by charlie

Looks right at home, doesn't he????

Yep. Looked at me like I was an intruder...

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

LOL! Not yet Gene, he is getting there though. It will be the wife and I, the kids will be staying with my sister. I can't wait, it will be our first vacation since our Honeymoon...

Have fun, Mike.
On the other hand, the heck with the wedding.., enjoy the second honeymoon...

[charlie]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Yep. Looked at me like I was an intruder...

Kinda like all the deer around here look at me and Willis when we go out to take pics of them!!!