A sailboat at anchor in the bay

Capturing Sailboats

Do you like sailing? Boating? 

I haven't done much sailing but throughout my life, I've had the opportunity here and there to get on a boat.

Growing up in Southern California didn't hurt! Lots of boating there, especially when I lived in San Diego. 

As a child, I used to go with one of my best friends and her family to Catalina Island on their boat. We'd set anchor in a little bay near the beach and stay for several days. 

We always had such a fun time, swimming, snorkeling, hiking on the island, playing games, reading. 

The whole family played games in the evening around the little table in the main cabin - Card games, Yahtzee, and Boggle come to mind as favorites.

No computers, no smartphones, no tablets. The one little TV in the galley was for baseball games only.

This photo made me a little nostalgic this morning.

Capturing Boats

I've had more than a few people ask me if I have any photos of sailboats. I've thought about going and getting sailboat photos but where?

Whenever I've been at the beach, I almost never see boats in the water, other than the occasional speed boat. 

When I set out to get a certain type of photo, I often come to the realization that it's harder than I think to just go get it.

For me, sailboats aren't that easy because I'm just not around them much. 

So, I had a happy surprise when I was in Port Charlotte, Florida and I was in a little park by the water late one afternoon.

I was walking Bauer and had taken my camera. 

My friends were back at the house, but I wanted to do a little exploring.

I was struggling a bit because I wanted to walk out on this little pier/boardwalk but Bauer wasn't having it. 

He dug his little feet in and with that four-on-the-floor, the dude is strong! With a look of absolute terror on his face, he would not step foot onto the boardwalk.

Poor guy. He really is afraid of everything. 

I picked him up and walked along the dock and saw this sailboat anchored in the little bay by a beach.

I set Bauer down and tied his leash to the railing so I could have my hands free. I really didn't need to tie him - he wasn't going anywhere!

It was such a pretty little boat, so I got a few photos. It was pretty bright out - not sunset yet. If you look to the left of the frame, midway, you can see the sun rays shining through the clouds. 

I put my aperture at f9 and shutter speed at 1000. I played around with different shutter speeds, but I liked this photo the best for editing. 

I was happy to see how nice the sky and clouds were when I uploaded the photos. 

I had fun editing this photo and just had to composite in a few signature birds. 

So...now I have a sailboat photo!

Now I need to capture some sailboats with the sails up. There were quite a few boats docked at the Warf when I was there and a few in the water, but none with their sails up. 

A few years ago when I was in Redondo Beach I saw a few with their sails up, but it was midday, bright, bright sun, and I wasn't in the best spot to capture them, so I didn't like any of those shots. 

I just don't get to places with boats that often. Must be time for a trip!

Hope you're having a great Wednesday! I'm going out shooting tonight, though I see there is some rain in the forecast - we'll see...

And see you between the raindrops!

xoxo,
Susan

I went ahead and put this print on the website in the Florida gallery.