11/23/2022 09:53 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Thanks. I can walk over to a good microbrewery from my house. There was really good luck with pretty cheap travel over the last few years. Been busy lately, so not many chances for beach photos.
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11/23/2022 11:32 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Surf mat maker in Paso Robles. T-shirt from Yucca Swim Fins, which of course go with surf mats (which in turn are having a bit of revival). A coral rock bench and whatnot (the corals are plastic foam) turned into a reef at Heathcote Botanical Gardens
One of Yucca's many nutty t-shirt images. The little NO BBQ sticker on the boat is presumably a reference to Tim Burnham, film maker (Dirty Old Wedge and Part of Water, a tribute to Ben Carlson, the Newport Beach lifeguard who drowned in the line of duty).
Edited: 11/28/2022 at 09:17 PM by ww
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11/28/2022 09:16 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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The final version was pretty easy to manufacture, but it took endless fussing to figure out how to colorize stuff painted in fluorescent paint and glowing under the (unintentionally) ultraviolet light from cheap LED spotlights that are supposed to be "blue".
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12/03/2022 04:53 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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More Heathcote. I've had very limited time for photos. The red fan palm is a Bismarckia whose silver leaves were perfect for colored lights. It had languished for years, then got healthy. Go figure. This photo's gotten a lot of looks at Flickr. Thanks.
Edited: 04/08/2023 at 01:35 AM by ww
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12/25/2022 12:19 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Heathcote Gardens again. Open Thursday and Friday before New Year. The big alligator looked out of place y last year's "stream" on the main lawn. Right at home in the Forest, next to a tiny artificial creek.
Gator's head. Really happy with getting the string lights in the correct exposure and color.
Edited: 04/08/2023 at 01:36 AM by ww
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12/25/2022 05:08 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Re-edits of a wave that ended with a broken board at Sebastian Inlet, Jan. 24, 2020. A bit sharper, noise removed. Editing software keeps getting better.
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12/25/2022 05:50 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Another from Jan 24, 2020. Good afternoon light.
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12/29/2022 01:53 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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inexplicably popular at Flickr. A palm-lined walk at Heathcote Botancial Gardens, leading to the little Rain Forest, behind a lighted gateway. T here were endless problems with getting programmed floodlights to work in this area. As if there were an electronics curse.
This night was looking pretty good.
Edited: 04/08/2023 at 01:38 AM by ww
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01/04/2023 06:56 AM
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Cole
Posts: 68401
Joined Forum: 07/22/2003
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That's quite the tombstone for a Florida wave!
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I was right.
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01/10/2023 05:37 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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New, longer model. Only one size, 10, is available, and then only by invitation--Yucca is checking to see how users like them before going ahead with full scale production. The "beige" color, really a soft yellow, looks sort of yucky under artificial light, beautiful in clear water on a sunny day.
Update: Yucca will be selling the longblades when the summer container of fins arrives. They passed the user test.
Edited: 04/08/2023 at 01:39 AM by ww
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01/10/2023 05:42 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Fin comparisons. Leblon (no longer available) is at top, yellow with red. Viper Vector V-7 yellow. It's an especially long fin, long popular with California bodysurfers and lifeguards, now almost disappeared. Yucca longblade, looking kind of brown under the light. Viper regular model.
f
View from above, same order.
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01/10/2023 06:03 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Re-edited from Jan 24, 2022. Serious surf housing.
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01/10/2023 06:11 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Messy but kind of interesting. Also a Jan 24 2020 update
Edited: 01/10/2023 at 06:16 AM by ww
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01/10/2023 11:38 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Back to last month, a flowering Bougainvillea bonsai decked with lights at Heathcote Botanical Garden in Fort Pierce.
This big concrete gorilla showed up in a Fort Pierce warehouse. It was ugly when donated to Heathcote Garden, then a local artist clothed it in fragments of old coffee cups, tiles, and some glass. It was given color-changing lights.
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01/14/2023 05:08 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Update of an interesting but poor-light photo from Feb 25, 2017 at Cape Hatteras. Gulf Stream was working wonders on water temperature, but only two guys were skinning it, rest full wetsuits.
Edited: 01/14/2023 at 05:09 AM by ww
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01/14/2023 05:19 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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More cats at Heathcote Botanical Garden. Both showed up recently, both were only slowly tolerated by the resident cat. Now the resident cat is interacting with them, a bit, and the black and white one (dubbed "Buddy") is seeking out people for petting. Not easy to take a photo of a cat that's rubbing your pants. Creamsicle colored one will put up with being looked at with a camera. She answers to Sugar. It seems she's an older cat, perhaps stray, perhaps dumped at the garden.
Edited: 03/01/2023 at 01:21 AM by ww
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01/17/2023 05:44 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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This photo of a gumbo-limbo branch weighed down with lots of fruits, taken this fall at Vero South Beach, got a fair amount of attention, so here it is.
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01/23/2023 10:41 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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A casual Newport Wedge photo (June 3 2021). Kid, dog, beach. What's not to like, other than the cloud layer. I didn't notice the checkered socks until doing editing. This has been a popular item at Flickr. I think it's the pup.
Edited: 04/08/2023 at 04:05 AM by ww
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03/01/2023 01:24 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Old Havana, calle Neptuno at calle Escobar panorama. Tour group's taxi.
The crowd is at a Panadería. Feb. 2023.
The Panaderia crowd, earlier .
Second and third floor of a building on Calle Neptuno.
Edited: 03/01/2023 at 01:37 AM by ww
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03/01/2023 01:43 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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An accidental video from The Wedge. I was eyeing the rip current along the long jetty through my camera viewfinder when a kid showed up, so video turned on and a little story played out. The kid, and a friend (who you see at the end) had been out for a swim/bodysurf and were obviously competent. But it's easy to make a beginner's mistake with a rip, like not exactly realizing what's going on. Lifeguard's handling was great.
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03/01/2023 02:26 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Moon with Jupiter Feb. 22 2023
Edited: 03/14/2023 at 08:36 PM by ww
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03/02/2023 07:17 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Colpothrinax wrightii, palma barrigona in western Cuba on a farm, next to a tomato patch.
Edited: 04/08/2023 at 01:42 AM by ww
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03/14/2023 08:32 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Wabasso beach park, May 2021. He was getting frustrated by both the non-breaking waves and Sargassum, which was coating the beach.
Edited: 03/14/2023 at 08:33 PM by ww
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03/16/2023 02:40 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Baby Coccothrinax and mature ones in a serpentine barren, western Cuba (Pinar del Río). We have a native Coccothrinax from Palm Beach County southward, likes beach areas, worth growing in places like Satellite Beach. Cuba has a whole bunch of species, some with tiny distributions.
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03/17/2023 07:45 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Quemado de Güines, Villa Clara Province, north coast east of Havana. Founded 1667. St Augustine's a lot older.
Edited: 03/17/2023 at 07:47 PM by ww
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03/23/2023 08:27 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Edited: 03/23/2023 at 08:55 PM by ww
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04/03/2023 04:26 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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A fresh re-edit of a 2017 photo, Notre-Dame de Paris on a snowy winter day (the snow was fun). The big circular feature on the ceiling is where the main nave intersects the transepts that give the cathedral its cross shape. A recent video showed a big, heavy, newly cut and carved block of stone being lifted into place to replace one destroyed or damaged by the big fire. That whole vault, including the stone circle, fell to the ground in the fire.
Only 15 of the 70 stones in the four ribs were in good enough condition to be used in reconstruction. That big hole, now refilled, was rebuilt once before, in the late 1700s shortly before the French Revolution, when the French government seized the church buildings and persecuted priests and nuns, beheading some of them. The government still owns the church buildings. A new wood-frame steeple to rise above it, and its huge wooden truss to connect it to the cathedral's stonework, is nearing completion in a big warehouse. It'll be shipped in pieces and assembled late this year. The new stones are from exactly the same quarry as the 1700s stones--historic records confirmed by examination of stone samples found a perfect match.
Photo editing software from Topaz has gotten noticeably better in the past year.
This is getting a bit ridiculous with a small-sensor camera and a hand-held 1.6 second exposure.
Edited: 12/05/2023 at 06:03 PM by ww
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04/22/2023 10:54 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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My main editing tool, Lightroom, introduced a new AI "denoise" setup to rival what's available from Topaz. So I played with a couple of known grainy photos. My small-sensor camera doesn't take in as much light as larger-sensor cameras, which results in grain under low light conditions. Images from Newport Wedge, I think already posted, but fiddled with today. These images are before and after de-noise. They are small bits of the original photo, expanded 4X for easier viewing.
First, the best I can do to show off a grainy image. This piece of a much larger image was expanded by 4X for better viewing.
The second was denoised and sharpened with Topaz software. The third was denoised by Lightroom (Adobe) software. I don't like the lips.
Here's a fresh Dec 2023 edit with the latest Topaz Photo AI, including color edit. I suppose a bit better.
Here's the whole image, Lightroom editing to remove noise.
Edited: 12/11/2023 at 02:40 PM by ww
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04/23/2023 12:31 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Another somewhat grainy edit. The grain reduction and sharpening wasn't quite magic, but given that software can mutilate faces, I like the natural result.
Edited with Lightroom denoise.
Here's the original noise. It's not bad and gives the scene a bit of character (sometimes noise is good). But still, I was impressed at how well the editing with up-to-date software worked. I have a couple of non-grainy photos of him, so have a good idea of how he "should" look.
Edited: 04/24/2023 at 01:22 PM by ww
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04/28/2023 11:48 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach. Temporary exhibition of glass and steel flowers by Jason Gamrath.
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05/10/2023 08:27 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Pitcairnia flammea, a "basal" bromeliad with normal monocot-type leaves. It's from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, a region that includes Rio de Janeiro. The plant has really bulked up over the past year (bigger pot). It had one infloresence last year, four right now (May 2023)
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05/11/2023 03:30 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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This turns out to be one of my most popular photos at Flickr, no idea why. A Junior Lifeguard (that's the official backpack for 2021) with what looks like an electric bike going home in the afternoon. The pale swimfins are Yucca. This guy looks old enough to likely be a real lifeguard for 2022. I think the best Juniors can get summer jobs at age 16.
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05/15/2023 07:17 PM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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More McKee Garden in Vero. A local guy does amazing water lily photos here.
The enormous table, a single slab of wood from a 1904 world's fair, from the recently-conquered Philippines, made its way to Waldo Sexton's Vero Beach tourist attraction. It lived for a number of years at Dodgertown, returning to its open-air shed when the remains of Sexton's place were refurbished as a botanical garden. I think the wood is what's marketed as Luan. I doubt that such trees exist any more. Big mahogany trees (native to places like Cuba and Honduras) were pretty much all cut in the 1700s and early 1800s. The legacy fancy furniture was made from high quality wood that's no longer available.
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05/19/2023 11:32 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Got confirmation, from Bob Okvist Sr. that this is Bob Okvist Jr. at The Wedge, June 2021. Unfortunately, no repeat of this week's spectacular surf seems in the offing. This and other photos from that ride need re-editing.
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05/28/2023 02:42 AM
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ww
Posts: 16097
Joined Forum: 08/17/2007
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Lichens on a black mailbox at the IFAS extension office in Oviedo, Florida. The patterns were interesting enough to make a whole bunch of images. This is one of the better.
Edited: 06/03/2023 at 03:22 AM by ww
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