Anna Maria



Hey everyone! Working in a Monday evening post so lets see how it goes! Before I get started: SUBSCRIBE :-) to my blog so you get an email every time I post. I know some of you have blog readers but now that I'm not doing a post every day the feed is a great way to keep up with what is going on, so sign up. I know how many subscribers I have now (not many) and I'll check again in 24 hours and see if anyone listened ;-) I promise no annoying spam or unnecessary emails.

Anyway - on to the show....Friday we drove over to Anna Maria Island for the day to celebrate Brittany's birthday. This was also Riley's first trip to the beach so we really weren't sure what to expect. Don't worry though, we did not spend a ton of time on the beach and only went out near sunset so his sun exposure was low. Being raised by someone who has had a melanoma has made me very aware of the damage the sun can do and I'll definitely pass that knowledge on to Riley one of these days. Anyway, we had a great day. We enjoyed a great lunch at the Star Fish Company seafood market and dockside restaurant and then made a trip to Britt's Aunt's Hair Salon/Bar on the island "Hairs To You Salon & Spa." I'm serious - during the day you can get your hair cut and it is also a full service salon and then as the day turns to night, it converts into a full bar. Really cool concept and we had a great time! Check it out!

After that we headed out to the beach to enjoy one of those great west coast (of Florida) sunsets. Here are some shots from the sunset:







The rest are here.

With all of the difficulties being caused by this oil spill looking at the amazing beauty of our coast and the Gulf waters really reminds me of how beautiful and delicate our environment really is. I hope and pray that somehow the whole Gulf coastline can somehow survive this disaster.

In some completely unrelated and happier news. Today I won something. I like most people feel like I am in the category of "never wins anything" but every now and then I have lucked out and won some type of drawing. This time it was a big one! I found out that I was 1 of 25 people who won free dinner for a year (actually just once a week but still awesome) from Black and Brew in downtown Lakeland. They were running a fundraiser to raise money for the United way and you could donate and get up to 3 entries. I made my donation and got my entries just in time (last week of the contest) and saw their tweet today that said the list of winners was up. I stopped by during lunch and checked the list just to make sure my name wasn't on it (helps with the disappointment factor) but sure enough, it was there! Definitely glad I made the donation to help and happy to win since Black & Brew is one of my favorite hang outs for lunch! Thanks!

Anyway, that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed the photos and if you're in Lakeland check out Black & Brew. Be sure to check back in soon! Let me know what you think and be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter!

Photo of the Day - The Girl's Got It!





As I promised this will be a lighter baby post as opposed to the first two this week. Today and tomorrow's post will feature two amazing artists! One of the first huge opportunities I had as a new photographer was to show my work in the Hayden Burns Library during Downtown Jacksonville's Artwalk. The chance to show in that gallery once a month was so important early on in my photography "career" and it was always a great time (I'd usually get there early enough to set up right across from the free beer and wine area - really adds to the fun and increases viewership as they wait in line). This was an amazing chance for me to display and sell my work but one benefit that I didn't initially realize when i was showing is that it was a GREAT opportunity to meet other talented young artists. One month, just by chance, we set up next to Kristin Stearley and as she was hanging her work my wife and I were so impressed and her work was right down our alley. Kristin paints portraits of your furry loved ones - that's right, your pets. As soon as we saw her work we immediately started planning on commissioning her to paint our two pups, Otis and Kohana. We actually have kept in touch with Kristin since leaving Jacksonville and as it turns out, showing at Artwalk wasn't the only thing we had in common. Kristin was expecting a baby around the same time we were and she had Emily Jane on February 13th (Congrats Kristin!).

So how does she do it you ask? I imagine keeping a pet (especially one as hyped up as Otis) still long enough for a painter to work up a portrait is horribly difficult. Actually I have experience dealing with pet portrait sessions as we put our pets through it for holidays and calendars. Kristin has developed her own system that involves using a photo that you provide to her and she works from that while also adding color and her own artistic flair. Her unique style and touches she adds to the portrait really make it work (notice the rhinestones attached to the painting on Kohana's collar). Once we decided we wanted our pup's portraits done it was time to find just the right photo. Fortunately I am a photographer so I was able to pick our favorite two shots of the dogs and sent them her way. Below are the two photographs she worked off of while creating their portraits:





The results speak for themselves. She is so nice, does such an amazing job, and does the commission work for a very reasonable price. Whether you have pets or not you MUST check out her website and get in touch with her if you'd like to send her a photo of your pet to paint. You will not be disappointed. If you're in the area and don't feel like taking a pic of your pet give me a shout and I'd be happy to work with you and get the perfect shot for Kristin to paint. Either way, please check out this talented artist!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have enjoyed the post and looking at some of Kristin's work. Hope you all have a safe and happy St. Patrick's day and be sure to come back tomorrow for our second guest blogger and it's going to be a great interview with some amazing photos to go with it. Can't miss it so come back tomorrow! See you then!

Photo of the Day - Celebrate!



We're not celebrating Riley's birthday yet, looks like he's like the rest of the Darby men and will be showing up on his own schedule. What I am celebrating today is that last night I finally went through and edited all of my photos from this year's Daytona 500. The above photo is a shot of the winner of the race Jamie McMurray celebrating on his car in the infield after the race. I shot from my and had a great time shooting and watching the race with Dad. It's always a blast! Here are a few more shots from the race:















If you'd like to take a look at the rest of the set click here. Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you've enjoyed the racing shots! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for another photo of the day and I promise to keep you updated on Riley's arrival! See you tomorrow!

Photo of the Day - Father Daughter Dance:



Welcome back! Like I said in yesterday's post I am sorry that I wasn't able to post a photo of the day for Thursday but it was a full day and when I got home I had the chance to talk to and work with our first guest blogger. We are really close to finishing up the first real guest blog entry and after reading it all I can say is WOW! Totally impressed and I am so pumped up to share it with the rest of the world! Be ready because next week that's exactly what is going to happen.

The above photo is one of my all time favorites from the professional golf events I have had the opportunity to shoot. When you assist other photographers in this kind of setting your focus for the majority of the time must be on assisting the photographer you are working with and your shots are way down the priority list. Towards the end of the tournament last year that focus completely changed when the tournament was coming to an end. There were assigned positions on the 18th hole which restricted the number of photographers allowed in each area and the angles of the shots that we were able to get so it was key to get the best shot from each angle to bring back to the media room. Unfortunately we didn't have enough people working the event to have a photographer at each location so after some strategy it was determined that I would be manning one of the spots near the green to try to get the best shot possible.

Wow - my first sports assignment when I least expected it and when I was the most fatigued after walking mile after mile for the first 3.75 rounds in the summer heat and now I was going to have to gather it all up and find a way to make it happen. I was also pretty fired up that day because there was a stock of loaner equipment that the Times-Union was given for this event and there just so happened to be an extra D3 lying around. Once everyone had headed out it was still there and one of our editors offered it to me. I tried to act casual and paused a bit before answering with a resounding "OH YES!" So this is one of my favorite shots since I had the opportunity to use some amazing and very expensive gear that is not my own.

As the champion Henrik Stenson's group made it down the fairway I was in my assigned area ready to go with some amazing sports photographers from all over the country. After he had finished his round and began to celebrate his daughter ran out to him and that amazing moment happened while they were celebrating such a special moment. Her hair was lit up by the setting sun and their expressions say it all about a father and his child's relationship. Definitely one of my favorites and one that I think back to and smile about often. I'm lucky enough to work with my dad and see him every day and we often have these kind of moments but I'm just a bit too heavy to pick up these days :-)

Thanks for stopping by on your Friday morning for this edition of the photo of the day. Like I said big things are happening and our first real guest blogger and one of my great friends Doug Levy will be stopping by for his interview next week! Stay tuned and have a GREAT weekend! If you are around tomorrow and want to stop by there may even be a special Saturday edition of the photo of the day. Happy Friday!

Photo of the Day - Back again:



Welcome back! What a long Monday! Wow. The good news is it's over! This afternoon I finally had the chance to do a little work on my web page and re-opened the "UF" section. I had to add a password prompt on the front page of the gallery to protect some sports photos and I finally got around to moving those to a better area. I frequently got questions and emails from people asking me why they couldn't access the gallery and for those who asked - now you can! :-) If you aren't a graduate of the University of Florida or a fan of the Gators you may not be interested but as long as you aren't a rival I am sure you will enjoy some of the shots of our beautiful campus. I truly miss it and love driving and walking around it while I am in town. If you'd like to see the UF Gallery click here!

I took the above photo of Century Tower, a well known UF landmark during a Lunar Eclipse after a basketball game in 2008. I read about the eclipse before we headed to town and I made sure to bring my gear so I could get a few shots before heading back home. I knew I wanted to work this famous landmark in with the eclipse if my timing was right and it worked out. I do wish the moon was a bit bigger but I can only control so much :-) Overall though I am pleased with all of the shots from that night.

Hope your Monday was a little better and more stress free than mine but hey, there's nothing we can do about it now, so here's hoping we all have a great Tuesday! Thanks for checking in and I hope to see you back tomorrow!

Photo of the Day - Orb Weaver:



Howdy again! Back to the archives from a shoot I did immediately after the Owl shoot but this time I was back in Jacksonville, FL. This may be the last photo set that I am able to post from our old house in Jacksonville but I am happy it is this one because I absolutely love it! Some of you out there that are following may be thinking "not this stupid spider again" but hold on! This is a different Spiny Backed Orb Weaver! This little guy took up residence in the entryway of our house and I would pass him every day as I headed out to check the mail (that's a big event for an unemployed lawyer trust me). Every time I passed I would think to myself that I should get a few shots before we moved back to Lakeland. This spider was a survivor. It fought through numerous tropical waves as well as a tornado scare. It would disappear for a day after some rough wind only to return the next morning with an even more impressive web than before.

After the unusual tornado activity that Jacksonville experienced this past summer I told myself if this spider fought through this I HAD to get some shots. Soon after I was out with my macro gear and tripod trying to get some shots. It was still very windy so macro shots were difficult but I managed to get a few out of the literally hundreds I took that afternoon. The lighting was pretty difficult but I managed with what I was given with the angle of the web and the natural light that I had. Once I finally had a chance to go back through and edit the shots I noticed some of the background colors were a bit distracting from the spider and web so, fortunately, with the technology we have, I was able to just get rid of it! As I've said before I am not a huge fan of selective color editing but in this case I think it works. Below are a few more shots:











If you want to see a few more from the set be sure to click here! Thanks so much for checking in again today for Thursday's photo of the day! For all of the working folk out there only one more day stands between you and your weekend! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for our very FIRST guest blogger ever on the Tim Darby Photography Blog! It should be pretty interesting! See you then!

Photo of the Day - Garage Owl:



Today I went back into the archives to some more photos that I should have edited and posted a long time ago. I was in an editing mood last night so I went through a few sets of shots that needed my attention. If I keep this up I'm going to eventually run out of old shots and have to get out and shoot some new material. Actually that is my aim in this little project.

The above photo was taken of an Eastern Screech Owl that was in my Uncle Mike & Aunt Kathy's garage. This isn't a typical wildlife photo shoot since it was in an enclosure and I really didn't have to go and seek out the shot - I just got a call from my Uncle Mike. Gotta love the easy ones (or so I thought)! Owls are really interesting birds and this little guy was no exception. He's much smaller than the photos may indicate and this species has a max weight of only 8 lbs and no taller than a football. Be sure to click on the link above or here to learn more about this really cool animal.

This little guy had decided to take shelter in this carport. It was summer and sweltering and bright out so I imagine he was taking shelter from the sun and heat. Unfortunately in the ceiling of a garage doesn't provide the best light for photography. Couple that with the fact he was partially obstructed and it didn't turn out as easy as I had initially thought. I worked as closely as I could and used my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens to give the owl some space while also being able to shoot at 2.8 since it was so dark in there. I couldn't use the flash because I didn't think the light would have been able to get to the subject evenly and with a sensitive subject like an owl in a dark area the first shot with a flash would probably have been my last. After the initial shots I knew that I could work with the available light. I'm really glad Mike gave me a call and I found the time to go over for a visit because this was the first and last time this owl perched in the garage. Hopefully that didn't have anything to do with my numerous and likely annoying shutter bursts. :-) Below are a few more shots from the day of this beautiful creature:







If you'd like to see a few more be sure to check out myEastern Screech Owl set on Flickr. Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Great to see you here back again today and be sure to stay tuned since there are some changes in the works including some guest blogs coming in the near future from some very talented people! Hope to see you back here again tomorrow - have a great day!