Reymon de Real PhotographyDREAMY SEAS
Posted on October 22, 2018
My club membership at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Resort includes a free two-night stay each year and two weeks ago I used said benefit and booked a room for the weekend for a staycation. My room was facing the ocean and I thought it was a good opportunity to work on my night photography and hopefully capture a few stars. Unfortunately, the weather was not at its best during my stay with the skies covered with clouds most of the day. Still I decided to give it a try hoping to capture something decent for my photography page. On my first night at the resort I positioned myself on the balcony and stared out into the darkness which was dotted by lights from cargo ships anchored far out at sea. I switched my lens to manual focus, adjusted my shutter speed to 15 seconds, pointed my camera into the darkness and started shooting. I was able to capture a few decent photos but the one above is my favorite as it captured a few stars and exuded a dreamy feel to it. The clouds eventually rolled in and rain started pouring forcing me to rush back inside my hotel room ending my photo session.
ANOTHER KEY WEST SUNSET
Posted on October 10, 2018
The other weekend I drove down to Key West, Florida after my work shifted to a 4-days-a-week schedule. I thought it was a good opportunity to enjoy my long weekend so I packed my bags, hopped into my car and off to the southernmost point of continental USA I went. When in Key West I always stay at the Pier House Resort and Spa due to it’s proximity to Duval Street where all the action is. Although, the main highlight when visiting Key West is watching the sun set on the Gulf of Mexico. These photos of the sunset were all taken at the Pier House Resort.
ORANGE BEAUTY
Posted on April 5, 2018
I found myself standing in front of an orange flamingo with a dilemna on how to photograph such a lofty animal. I didn’t want to photograph the entire bird from head to foot and look like the poor bird’s yearbook photo so I tried squeezing my creative juices to capture the beautiful bird in a different way. My first few shots failed to give justice to the majestic animal before me until the flamingo started twisting its neck to pluck on its feathers at times burying it’s head out of my view. I immediately focused my lens to the flamingo’s body capturing more details from the symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns of the feathers, the elegant curves of the neck to the fading colors from rich orange to ivory white. These close-ups allowed me to capture the flamingo’s private moment without intruding into it’s personal space.
PASTEL PARADISE
Posted on March 27, 2018
I was on a cruise to the Western Caribbean last week and our first port of call was the southernmost point of continental USA…Key West, Florida. I’ve been to this island multiple times and for me the best part about visiting Key West is the scenic drive through multiple keys (islands) and seeing the beautiful blue waters on both sides of the highway. Since I only had a few hours to enjoy Key West before we set sail to our next destination, I decided to limit my walk around town to a few of my favorite stores. Unfortunately, my favorite soap store, Fantasea, along Duval Street closed business a few months ago. I also planned to eat lunch in Blue Heaven but the wait time for a table was more than an hour so I ended up eating somewhere else. The only itinerary that I actually got to experience was the Key West Butterfly Museum where I was able to take a lot of photos that were featured on this page a few posts ago. I decided to return to the ship earlier than planned and found myself on my stateroom balcony staring out at this resort island across from the ship. I also noticed a pinkish haze in the atmosphere, which contrasted well to the blue waters of the sea, reminding me of the pastel colored soaps I used to buy at Fantasea. Key West is magical when seen on land but I was amazed how magical this island looks as well from the air.
BORDERLINE
Posted on March 11, 2018
I was going through my old photographs when I came across this one I took during my very first cruise back in 2013. We just sailed out of Miami and the sun had just set creating a majestic glow in the horizon. Up in the sky was this expansive cloud creating a border above the horizon while sandwiching the fiery sky in the middle. As I focused my gaze out to sea, I got captivated by the poetic silhouette of a cruise ship created by the glowing sky. Thankfully I brought my DSLR with me so I was able to photograph the magnificent view before me. I can also still remember the slow rocking of the ship and the smell of the salty ocean breeze as we sailed steadily towards our destination. It was a totally new experience for me and I’m glad I did it because after that trip I became a cruise fanatic having been on 9 cruises since and looking forward to my 10th in the next few days. I have cruised the Caribbean a number of times, the Mediterranean, Alaska and across the Atlantic Ocean and I’m looking forward to more cruises in the future. My goal is to keep cruising until I can eventually claim to have cruised around the world.
RED FIRE ENGINE
Posted on February 18, 2018
Yesterday was the culmination day of the photography workshop I’ve been attending for the past four Saturdays followed by an exhibit to showcase our work. A lot of my classmates used photos they took prior to attending the workshop but in my case, I decided to use a photo I took during one of the photo sessions. This photograph of the front of an old fire truck was taken inside the Fort Lauderdale Fire and Safety Museum, which was one of the stops during our photo walks. Our teacher instructed us to explore around the museum and take photos of specific details such as lines, angles, curves and various shapes. I am not a big fan of this photo but my instructor liked this a lot that he suggested I submit this for the exhibit. He even shared this photo on his Facebook page which was truly very flattering. If you guys noticed, I also changed the watermark logo on my photos using my signature to give it a more personal touch. I felt the old logo was too boxy and looked too heavy aside from it taking up a lot of space. I am also including below a few more photos I took while inside the museum as well as photos taken during the exhibit yesterday.
Photos taken during the exhibit
SUPER BLUE MOON
Posted on January 31, 2018
Earlier today, the whole world looked up to the heavens to witness a celestial phenomenon that only happens once in a blue moon…a Super Blue Blood Moon Eclipse. It is called a Blue Moon when the full moon happens twice in a calendar month, a Super Moon when the full moon is closest to Earth on its orbit and a Blood Moon when its color turns blood red after it crosses into the shadow of the Earth. What made today most exciting was a rare lunar trifecta wherein the Super Moon and Blue Moon combined with an eclipse. Since I live in the east coast of the United States I witnessed the phenomenon just as the moon was about to sink into the horizon. A lot of those who didn’t live in buildings missed the event and only saw the Super Blue Moon when it was high up in the sky. Luckily, I live in a building and my balcony faces west so I got to witness the event and even took photos of the early stages of the eclipse. Unfortunately, my part of the United States didn’t get to see the full eclipse as the moon sank into the horizon before it fully occured. I woke up really early this morning to set up my camera and took photos of the moon while it was still up in the sky. Above is one of the photos I took while waiting for the eclipse to occur and below is the photo I took while the Super Blue Moon was turning red at the early stages of the eclipse.
UNDER THE PIER
Posted on January 29, 2018
One boring weekend a few years ago, I decided to go joy riding with a friend until we found ourselves at the Dania Beach Fishing Pier in Dania Beach, Florida. The pier was filled with fishing enthusiasts holding on to their precious fishing rods while competing with pelicans and seagulls for the good catch. Good thing I brought my DSLR with me that day so I was able to capture photos of the birds, the fishes, the people, the pier and the emerald waters of the Atlantic. I then went down to the sand to continue taking photos and found myself under the pier facing it’s entire length stretching out into the water. The ocean was a little rough that day so there were a lot of surf as the waters crashed on the sand as well as on the concrete beams of the pier. I took multiple shots from the same spot and this one captured the waves so well including the water sprays showing a lot of movement and fluidity in the photo. I’ve had this photo for a while now and I only came to appreciate this work of mine very recently…hope you guys like this too!
CAMERA SHY
Posted on January 14, 2018
Yesterday I attended a photography workshop to learn basic photography techniques from setting the camera correctly in manual mode to photo editing using Photoshop. The class will run for four (4) Saturdays and started yesterday with a discussion on the appropriate f-stop, aperture and shutter speed settings to use in various light conditions. The session included walks around the historic and picturesque Sailboat Bend neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where we got to play with our cameras in both sunny and shady environments. The activity allowed us to switch on both settings while working on our individual photography styles. Our instructor took us to this wooded area beside the river and instructed us to photograph whatever caught our attention. As my classmates went about with their photography business, I noticed a squirrel quietly nibbling on a tree trunk just a few feet in front of me. None of my classmates noticed the squirrel and I didn’t want to call everyone’s attention then scare it away so I quietly adjusted my camera settings and started clicking on my cute litle subject. The squirrel eventually noticed my presence and it went leaping from one branch to another fleeing farther away from me. Before it eventually made its final dash, it hid behind a branch before looking straight back at me with just one eye and only half of it’s face exposed. I didn’t know if it was telling me to go away or it was just posing peek-a-boo for me one last time. Overall it was a productive day spent with fellow photography enthusiasts and a very knowledgeable instructor. However, the best part of the entire exercise was the opportunity I got to make a camera shy squirrel to pose for me and my camera.
Below are the other photos I took during the class:
SUPERMOON
Posted on December 3, 2017
Tonight was the first and last supermoon of the year so I made sure of my availability to photograph it. The supermoon is when a full or a new moon is at its closest distance to earth resulting to a larger than usual size. I originally planned to head to the beach early with my tripod and all but decided last minute to photograph handheld. Unfortunately, the beach across from my building is just plain sand and ocean so that placed me in a dilemna on which foreground subject to use. Fortunately, the sand dunes are covered in sea oats so I decided to duck behind them and used them to frame the moon rising from the horizon. I regretted not bringing my tripod as most of my photos turned out blurry. So far, this is the most decent one after undergoing a reasonable amount of processing in my iPad. Below are more photos I took of the moon all framed by fluffy clouds. Note that I had to superimpose the more detailed photo of the moon otherwise it would just be one solid ball of light. Hope everyone got the chance to view the Supermoon and captured a few photos as well.
SOUTH FLORIDA DREAMIN’
Posted on November 5, 2017
I consider myself very fortunate to live in this part of the country as other people have to save money and plan vacations just to experience this. Meanwhile, I wake up to this every morning as part of my daily routine…I jump out of bed, put on my flipflops, leash my dog and walk 5 minutes to the beach to greet the sunrise. Each morning may not be as dreamy as this but watching the sun rise from the horizon is quite a liberating experience. To live near the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is like living in a dream…and moving here is probably one of the best decisions I ever made in my life. My encounter with the sunrise every morning rejuvinates and at the same time excites me…and thankfully, my ever reliable iPhone is always in my pocket ready to capture the promise of another beautiful day.
SEAWATCH ON THE OCEAN
Posted on October 28, 2017
Imagine sitting on this balcony enjoying the view while sipping on refreshing cocktails and munching on fresh seafood…possible if you live in sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I just did it earlier tonight to celebrate the end of work week and the start of an exciting weekend. Seawatch On The Ocean Restaurant has floor-to-ceiling glass windows designed to provide guests a view of the ocean from every seat in the restaurant. This is one of my favorite restaurants in the city and my go to place when the weather is good. I usually sit on the balcony for happy hour before heading downstairs to the main dining area for dinner. This restaurant serves good seafood and was named one of the most scenic restaurants in the United States.
SOARIN’ O’ER SUNRISE
Posted on September 21, 2017
Flying is for me one of the most exciting aspects of travelling. I love the thrill of the takeoff from the powerful vibration of the aircraft to the ferocious rumble of its engine. I always sit by the window to watch everything speed by until the aircraft touches the sky and everything below looks like a miniature toy set. During my vacation last month, my flight’s takeoff schedule coincided with the sunrise so that got me excited hoping to capture a few interesting shots. As soon as I got a glimpse of the sun I started snapping with my iPhone 7 Plus and framed the wing as an additional focal point to my composition. I also included my home city of Fort Lauderdale below for a sense of height. The rich golden yellow light of the sun casting shadows all over also created a multidimensional effect on the clouds. One technique I do when using my phone on a plane is to press the phone flat on the window to prevent reflections. Here are four photos I took as my plane soared over the Atlantic Ocean on it’s way to my vacation destination.
SILHOUETTES AND SUNSETS
Posted on July 19, 2017
My balcony faces west so I get a front seat panorama of spectacular sunsets almost every day. I’ve been taking photographs of the sunset from my balcony but the lack of an interesting subject in the foreground produced less interesting compositions. One day I noticed my little buddha on the balcony floor and decided to be creative with my photography. Instead of using the sunset as my subject, I focused my camera on the buddha and used the blazing sky as my background. The photo above was taken a few weeks ago and was my first attempt in capturing the buddha as a silhouette. Today the sunset had the sky blazing again so I dropped on my belly with my iPhone and captured the photos below.
BEAUTY AFTER THE FURY
Posted on October 9, 2016
I was driving out of a shopping mall parking lot when I saw this magnificent display of colors in the darkening sky. I had to step on my brakes, pull out my phone and roll down my window in order to capture the beauty before me. Mother nature sure has her ways of making us shudder in fear as well as exclaim in wonder. Just a day before, she was unleashing all her fury on us then a day later here she was flaunting off her breathtaking beauty. This photo was taken a day after the hurricane Matthew threat to my home city thus the title of this post. By the way, thank you all for your kind messages on my previous post…it was comforting to read them while waiting for the arrival of the hurricane. I’m also happy to announce that we luckily dodged the storm with no significant damages. This won’t be the last so I will need to always be prepared. I guess it’s also the price we pay for living in this tropical paradise state of Florida.
TROUBLE IN PARADISE
Posted on October 6, 2016
Living in sunny Florida is like a dream come true, however, not all dreams can be pleasant experiences. Sometimes, nightmares happen and sad to say, I am experiencing one right now. In a few hours, the eastern coastline of Florida will be hit by one of the strongest hurricane in about a decade. Hurricane Matthew is on its way to unleash his fury on the sunshine state and we are expecting for the worst and hoping for the best. Matthew is now a category 4 hurricane and will be closest to my home city of Fort Lauderdale around 7-8 pm today (about 4 hours from now). I just hope we don’t get hit that bad later tonight…wish me luck, guys!
VENETIAN CAUSEWAY
Posted on August 4, 2016
I took this photo 5 years ago the day I bought a tripod camera stand and just a few weeks after I bought my first DSLR camera. A friend joined me for a photo walk of our neighborhood to play with our new cameras when we found ourselves on the Venetian Causeway, a bridgeway which connects mainland Miami through the Venetian Isles composed of 6 artificial islands all the way to Miami Beach. During this shoot, I was still ignorant on how to set the manual mode of my camera so I used instead the night mode feature out of convenience (horror!). I also made sure the bridge was empty of vehicles and pedestrians when I took the shot in order to create the deserted atmosphere of the photo. This shot never really caught my eye until a few days ago while reviewing my photo bank that I realized it has an interesting look to it. I attempted to convert it to black and white, which turned out really nice, but decided last minute to post this colored version instead.
MAGIC KINGDOM
Posted on May 29, 2016
The Cinderella Castle is the very heart of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in reference to its location and it being the access point to every themed land in the park. I took this photo of the castle from Main Street USA, a street lined with shops depicting early-20th century small-town America and inspired by Walt Disney’s childhood. I was about to head out of the park when I decided to take one last look and saw the magical magnificence of the illuminated castle in the distance. I thought its light blue illumination made it pop out in the darkness while the golden lights of the Main Street buildings framed it beautifully from both sides. Truly a beacon for every child’s dream (and adults too).
WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE
Posted on April 7, 2016
During my interview with the company who hired me for work in the United States, the interviewer asked me where in the USA I would want to relocate and I replied “anywhere near Disneyland”. It may have sounded funny for the interviewer but I was dead on serious about living close to a Disney park. When I was 10 years old, a neighbor gave me a pictorial souvenir of Walt Disney World and I grew up staring at the photos dreaming of visiting it someday. Disney World was a childhood dream that always lingered deep inside my heart and mind so imagine my joy when the interview ended with a job offer to sunny Florida where Walt Disney World is located. My work assignment was in Miami but it was good enough for me as Orlando was just a few hours drive. Since my move to Florida, a visit to Walt Disney World has become part of my annual tradition and each time I step into the park and come face to face with Cinderella’s Castle, I pinch my arm to remind myself that everything is for real. I know I have come a long way from being that kid who once dreamed of coming to Disney and I am very proud to say that through perseverance and hard work I eventually made that childhood dream come.
