Saturday, August 14, 2010

Saint Augustine in 150 mm of Black and White

Friday evening after a long and stressful work week. What better way to shed some of the residue than a brief drive down to Saint Augustine for some walking, shooting, and relaxing... Grabbed the D700 and my Sigma 150mm macro f/2.8 lens, and off we went...


I have recently become enamored of black and white photography -- looking for the contrast in shades of gray. Forcing greater thought, composition and creativity. So I called up my B&W pre-sets and left it there. The shot above is the west lawn at the Castillo de San Marcos on Matanzas Bay (the Spanish-built coquina fort).


There are numerous galleries along the streets of the old town. I shot the carved relief above through the window of one of those galleries. Thought it would make for an interesting, and mildly erotic image.

After 30 minutes or so of walking the historic district, we lighted at the martini bar on the porch of the Casablana Inn directly across  from the bay. The light breeze off of the bay made the early evening Florida August weather tolerable, as did the vocal jazz of Peggy Brown, whom I had never heard before. Quite good -- as was her guitarist, whose name I didn't catch...


A glass of California wine for me and a Key Lime Martini for Mrs. Muse, and hour of relaxation, conversation and music... not a bad way to end the week...

1 comment:

I am a lover of children's literature said...

I, like you, love black&white photos. There's a special magic to it that, for some strange reason, color just doesn't catch. I don't know why that is, but you would think color would be better (in some cases it is, of course).

I especially love your first photo, it has a whimsically look of mystery to it that is especially appealing to me.