When my husband is watching sports on television, I have the perfect opportunity to sneak away and try new photography techniques. I decided to try my hand at light painting, grabbed the crystal ball, flashlight and gels and headed to a dark spot in the spare bedroom. Here is my attempt at creating something with red, white and blue “stripes.”
There are many beautiful places to photograph in Sarasota and I cannot select one place over another. One that I especially love, however, is downtown at Island Park along Sarasota Bay. There is always activity such as children playing, people walking their dogs, sweethearts strolling hand in hand and much more. While enjoying a pleasant evening recently, I decided to practice painting with light and found the grasses by the Bay gently swaying in the breeze to be the ideal subject. 
While in NYC last December, there was one photo I had in mind involving light painting that I did not want to leave without taking. Let me preface this by saying little did I know that the temperature would be low 20’s in the City, not to mention what it would be down by the waterfront with the freezing wind blowing off of the water…in the teens! Did that stop me? No. Off I went with fellow photographer, Mindy Towns, to capture my photo. Honestly, I’m sorry I did and I wish I could have waited until Springtime when the weather would be more pleasant. With my teeth chattering, blurry eyes as a result of tears running down my cheeks, toes frozen, flashlight ready and fingers so numb I could not feel the shutter release button, I pressed it quickly only once without looking through my viewfinder. Grabbing our equipment, we ran as fast as possible in our frozen state up to the street corner to hail a cab to take us back to the City and our warm apartment. Those of you who know us can visualize this scene, can’t you? Imagine my disappointment when I transferred my photos to my computer for viewing! In my near death state from being almost frozen, I was much too quick and left off part of what I wanted to photograph…part of the “U” and all of the “L.” When we return later this year, I will go back and re-take my photo…much better this time and more than one frame! Lesson learned!
A 52-Week Photo Journey 