Last night I got the pleasure of shooting with some of my fellow Naples Photography peeps during a night photography shoot on downtown 5th avenue here in Naples. It started to rain early on in the evening but luckily it stopped by the time we needed to be out there. I enjoy being able to share my passion with such amazing people like the fellow photographers in this group with me. It is so fun to have the same interest and be able to learn from one another all at the same time. We have monthly get togethers and walk-abouts around town where we go and shoot together. The instructor also offers awesome classes that we can attend if it interests us. Needless to say, I attend everything I possibly can so that I can learn anything and everything about the world of photography. It's a constant learning process and that is what I love most about it. It's never a dull subject because there is always more to learn. That aspect keeps it all very exciting.
The shot of the trees lit up above was taken in front of the Sugden theater on 5th Avenue. It's a gorgeous spot that they keep lit up year round. Love that!
I love shooting on 5th avenue anytime I can. Downtown Naples is what I like to call a "mini" Rodeo Drive. The cars that line the streets are amazing. The shops are adorable. The people watching is fantastic. And the restaurants are phenomenal. Not only that but you walk steps down the street and right into the beach. The ocean/coast line is right there. It's an awesome place to live by. Gorgeous is an understatement. Rain or shine - it's truly like living in paradise everyday. In the shot above, I wanted to capture some light streaks from the cars going by. Thus the ribbon effect from the headlights. The process involves slowing your shutter speed way down and capturing the lights even though the cars that produce the headlight streaks are ghost like and not visible.
In this picture above, I was after "star bursts" with the lights. I wanted that effect on the green traffic light at the intersection and the lighting along the awnings of the businesses.
The fountains above are located outside the McCabe's Irish Pub on 5th Ave. McCabe's is the restaurant for the Inn of 5th hotel. (LOVE THAT HOTEL!) All of the restaurants in downtown Naples have tables that line the sidewalks outside. It is so fun to walk up and down 5th and then have dinner under the palm trees at the restaurants. The ambiance is always amazing in this area. Lots going on...
Again, I was after the light streaks from cars in the above shot. I loved the colored lights across the street and in the bushes here. The hubby and I had dinner at Bistro 821 the other night and sat right outside where this shot was aimed. It was a beautiful evening with the gulf breeze blowing and true to form Florida weather. Good times.
This one was just another close up shot of the water fountain in front of McCabe's.
And this ice cream shop...??? Well believe it or not - it is the only place we've been able to find a neon sign at in Naples. I loved that the bike was parked in front of it with the little red flashing light on it.
Even the parking garages in Naples are gorgeous. (above)
This was an alley (above) and I was again trying to capture some star bursts on the lights. If you look closely, you'll notice I caught some red tail light streaks going by at the far end of the alley as a car passed thru my shot. I had a great night with my Naples photography peeps and a great night just waddling walking around on 5th Avenue. It's always comical how many people approach us about what we are doing when we are there together with all of our cameras. Good times!
I hope all of you have a spectacular weekend. We've got dinner plans with our neighbors/friends this evening (back down on 5th avenue - YAY!) and then a low key weekend to just veg out. I love weekends when we have nothing planned. I'll be gearing up for my first ever shoot with the new magazine I mentioned yesterday. They've lined up a job for me and I'll be heading out to do it come Monday. Please say a little prayer for this nervous nelly in me. New situations are always good at giving me the nervous jitters from time to time. :)
Incredible. Just incredible. Chicagoans have no idea how blessed they are to reside in a state that has a city as gorgeous as Chicago. Each time I'm here, it reconfirms how much I love this city and just how simply stunning it is.
Aside from the two hour bumper to bumper traffic I sat in on the highway yesterday while attempting to get here (traffic was because of a horrible accident), the ride in was wonderful. I lived it up in the car for 5 hours (was supposed to be three but the accident ruined that idea) during the drive in completely alone. It was just me, God, my Rob Thomas & my Kings of Leon tunes. I enjoyed every second of being able to crank up the stereo without busting my kids ear drums. And let me just tell ya', if you don't have any Kings of Leon music, GET SOME - like now! I love their band - love their style - love their sound. Either way, I rolled onto Michigan avenue at about 6:15pm last night. I made the dinner on time with the rest of my workshop attendees. They are all great! So fun and so nice. It's great to be in a group where each of us could sit and talk photography for hours on end and never flinch. We did just that last night. After our incredible dinner together, we hit the town and had a ball playing around with our cameras in the midnight hours. If you've ever been to downtown Chicago, you'll know that the city is still A-L-I-V-E at that hour of the night so it is almost like it is day time due to the amount of people out and the lights still on. We hit the river front which is conveniently right across the street from our hotel, and snapped some cool shots while experimenting with panning and slower shutter speeds. We also hit this under pass and practiced slowing the cars waaayyyyy down to get this ribbon streaming from their lights. Very, very cool. I had a lot of fun with this...
Looks wicked, doesn't it? Almost like the cars are ghosts and the only thing you see is their lights passing you by. Too fun!
After practicing with cars, we hit the river front and I managed to capture this cool shot of a river yacht going by while I was shooting. I slowed it waaayyyyy down as well but attempted to keep the rest of the scene crisp and clear - even getting some star bursts on a few of the lights...
And here is the tail end of the river yacht. Love the squiggly ribbon lines from its lights. Everyone on the yacht was waving to all of us (all 11 photographers with 11 cameras and 11 tripods - we looked like a force to be reckoned with and got quite the questions on the street. I think some thought we were the paparazzi and that a celeb was in town. HA! Some guy stopped me and said..."What are we looking for, I'm from another state and need to know." Ha ha!)
Needless to say, I'm having an absolute blast. We had a fabulous night with spectacular weather last night. We are hoping the rest of the weekend will prove to be the same. We just finished up a wonderful breakfast together this morning at the Corner Bakery and are now headed out for a day and night full of non-stop shooting. Our day will be chocked full all the way up until at least 10pm tonight according to our instructor. I can't wait to share our "captures" with all of you once I return home to Indy. For now, I hope you enjoyed the night light shots above. Enjoy your Saturday. And hey...if you happen to be off Michigan avenue or in downtown Chicago today or tomorrow - and run into a group of 11 women packing cameras, flag us down and say hello. :)
