Super Moon of 2011

Pompano Beach, Florida

Today is the first day of Spring, the Vernal Equinox, which coincides with the Super Moon of 2011, a perigee moon.  This was taken about 7 hours ago at the beach in Pompano Beach, Florida.

"If you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it's ok. But you've got to shoot for something. A lot of people don't even shoot." - Confucius

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Miami Skyline in Photos - 2001-2011

After the birth of my son in 1998, I began to get back into photography after a long hiatus.  Back in those days I was shooting film of course and I was experimenting with medium format as well. I used my old Canon Rebel, then my Canon Elan7e, and my last film camera, an EOS 3.  I also played around with an old 40 year old Yashica D TLR Medium format camera that belonged to my dad.  In 2003, I decided to go digital and have shot digital ever since (though occasionally I would bring out my Medium Format Mamiya 7ii for special landscapes).  No matter what I was shooting,  at some point in time, I would photograph the Miami Skyline. You can photograph it from Watson Island or Brickell, from the Bay, the Port, or from the highway or bridges.  It has always yielded some cool images.  What one does not realize is that in only a short span of time, a decade, the skyline has changed with the construction of new buildings.  This slideshow documents how the skyline has changed in the last decade.  The first set of images were taken in 2001-2003 and the last set of images were taken just a few months ago.  In between, I have images I've taken as well during a lot of the construction which is evidenced by cranes and booms.  I also included images from several July 4 firework shows from the skyline which were taken from 2007-2010.  Many of my images were taken from Watson Island under the bridge (which you can no longer do due to tunnel construction. Other images I took from the Bay, from Brickell Key, from Key Biscayne, and from the Highway and Bridges along the Miami River.

The music? Well I selected a piece called, "Miami" by Paquito D'Rivera.  Enjoy the next five minutes, and hopefully in ten more years, I'll be able to create part 2.

All Images © 2001-2011, Michael Pancier Photography

The Birds of Wakodahatchee Wetlands - 2011 Edition

My latest photo essay from my recent visits at Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Palm Beach County, Florida.  I've been lucky to see 10 generations of blue herons there in the last decade, and they're still going strong.  Hope you enjoy the images, especially those of the baby blue herons.

An Hour With the Skimmers

I had one of the most amazing hours photographing some black skimmers yesterday.  It was gray and overcast, and rain was on the horizon. One would think it would otherwise be terrible conditions for photography. I decided to give it a shot.  I rarely see skimmers on the Atlantic coast. I usually have to travel to the west coast, Marco Island, Naples, St. Petersburg, and Indian Rocks, to get the chance to photograph these guys.  So learning that I had a local colony only 30 minutes away, I could not resist. 

After one hour,  the rains came and I packed my lens/camera equipment and bolted back to the car and back home.  The lighting was poor by that time.  Upon getting home, I was pleasantly surprised to find so many keepers in this batch of images. So much so, that I decided the best thing was to put the series into a slideshow.

I will be posting some of these images up on my Flickr account and on my website in the coming weeks if anyone is interested in a print.  Have a great weekend and a great Valentine's Day. As for me, I'll be out in the field.

Night View of the Miami Financial District

© 2011 Michael Pancier Photography

 

Got some great colors of the skyline of the Miami Financial District the other evening. While I'm a nature guy by nature,  I still enjoy skylines, and Miami has quite a diverse one to photograph.  This view is from the area West of the Brickell Avenue skyline.

For copies of any of my Miami skyline prints, drop me a message at www.michaelpancierphotography.com

See you out in the field

Great Blue Heron Action at Wakodahatchee

Great Blue Heron - Wakodahatchee Wetlands - Delray Beach, Florida

Taken on Sunday 2/6/11 early in the morning. Activity was good for the herons, ducks, and the regular gang of waterbirds. See you all out in the field as the activity picks up just in time for spring.

Winter of 2011 Getting you Down?

© Michael Pancier Photography

Journey to the Wave

It's been nearly two years since I made the journey to the Wave in the Paria Canyon  / Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area in Arizona. This journey fulfilling one of my bucket list places.  Finally, I've gotten around to putting together the photo essay of the entire hike which wasn't as grueling as the hike itself.  Also featured in the video is photographer Mike Jones of Mike Jones Photo from Mesa Arizona and Charly Moore, the guide from Overland Canyon Tours, in Page, Arizona,  an artist in his own right.  The hike was exhausting as you could see from our faces (except Charly's).  A hike worse than Delicate Arch. But worth it.

If you have seven minutes, then lay back and enjoy the scenic journey.

A Beautiful Sunrise in My Beloved Everglades

Woodstork - Nine Mile Pond - Everglades National Park

Photographing a landscape is like playing the lottery, although with better odds.  You never know if the elements will cooperate with you or not.  On Sunday morning,  I felt like shooting the sunrise at Nine Mile Pond in Everglades National Park.  This location is amazing if you have the right elements, clouds or fog. Otherwise, it's pretty lame. Fortunately, despite the weather forecasts for cloudless skies,  I decided to go shooting anyway. The elements came together. No fog, but I had a cooperative woodstork to anchor my image.   See you out in the field.

Opening in Theaters Today 1.1.11

A New Year at Fort DeSoto

As I have done now for the second year in a row, I decided to spend New Years Eve and New Years Day in one of my favorite places,  Tierra Verde aka Fort DeSoto in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida.  The birds are not there yet in number, but I cannot help but love this place. I've seen so many sunrises and sunsets there I never get tired of them. It's a new show every day.  Thing is, I really love the Gulf of Mexico.  I've done my best photography there. I've done my best fishing there.  I love the beaches there. The Gulf has so many bird and wildlife opportunities that I just don't find on the Atlantic side of the state. The water there is warmer, clearer, and calmer.  Last year we really had a scare with the oil spill.  We have seen the enemy of the Gulf and it is us. It must remain pristine.  Here are some of the images of the Gulf and from Tampa Bay taken on New Years weekend 2010-2011 at Fort DeSoto Park.

Last Sunset of 2010 - North Beach Fort DeSoto

Egmont Key Lighthouse - Taken from Fort DeSoto North Beach

Sunshine Skyway Bridge - Tampa Bay Sunrise - From East Beach

Sunshine Skyway Bridge and Freighter - Tampa Bay - From East Beach

Black Skimmers at North Beach

Please visit my website at www.michaelpancierphotography.com and my Facebook Fan Page for the latest news and images of where I'm shooting. See you out in the field folks.

Remembering 2010 in Photos

2010 - A Year in Review from Michael Pancier on Vimeo.

Hope everyone had a great New Year.   All I can say is that 2010 was quite a year and here's to a better 2011.  Here's my updated video which shows over 1000 of my images from 2010 in a three minute time span.   You'll be surprised as to how much your mind can actually process all these images given their average .04 second speed.  I had prepared an earlier version of this video, but it did not include photos from December 2010, which this one does.

Happy New Year and thanks for your support.

Remembering Olga Diaz - 2 Years Later

Rene Touzet and Olga Diaz

She left us two years ago today to be among the angels. If you listen hard enough, you can hear her laugh and sing and playing the piano for us all along with the other Cuban artists that have left us.

Here is a photo of the great Cuban composer and bandleader, Rene Touet, and my mother, Olga Diaz, from what I believe is the late 1960's or early 1970's.

It does not matter how much time passes,  you still miss them once they are gone.

Noche Buena in Miami - 2010

Miami Skyline - December 2010

Our city is lit up in beautiful Christmas colors today. Have a wonderful Noche Buena and a Merry Christmas. Cheers!

Dancing with the Cranes

Great Blues Building their Nests for 2011

Great Blue Herons - Venice Rookery

It's that time of year again; time for the great blue herons to start building their nests for the upcoming winter and spring of 2011.  I observed seven active nests at the Venice Rookery last week for what should be a great season for birding and avian photography.  Hope to see everyone out in the field.

A Thanksgiving Day Proclamation by the President

Lincoln Memorial - Washington, D.C.

By the President of the United States of America.


A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln


William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

Happy Birthday Olga

Olga Diaz - circa 1962

Today, November 18, 2010,  my mom, Olga Diaz, would have been 74.  It's almost been two years since she left us.  Well at least there's photos of her and recordings of her and her music to keep her memory alive.  The above image is a photo of her from the 1960's which I found and had restored which was taken by my dad on his old medium format camera.  Below, is a you tube video where you can hear her describing a piece by Cuban Composer, Rene Touzet, which she also plays towards the latter part of the video.  So with this, we can all remember her on her birthday ...

An Autumn Sunset Across the Shenandoah Valley

Shenandoah National Park - Skyland, Virginia

“I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks”

-- Daniel Boone

Equal Justice Under Law

The Supreme Court of the United States

On my recent trip to the US Capital, I was fortunate enough to be there at the same time they were having oral argument at the US Supreme Court. Being a member of the Supreme Court Bar, I was able to get in and see some of the arguments in person.  There was a lot of hustle and bustle there early in the morning. Folks lining up in the public lines stretching down to the sidewalk to get a chance at a seat in the Court, attorneys getting ready for oral argument; I even saw Justice Breyer dash in through the main entrance to get to the elevators.  The Court Clerk and assistants there were making sure that the lawyers had their scripts ready when they moved to have new lawyers admitted to the Bar. and that everything ran smoothly there that day.  There were random lawyers from across the country that were there simply to hear argument on cases they were interested in who were discussing esoteric jurisdictional questions that were going to be argued there that day. Once seated in the packed courtroom on a case involving civil procedure, the minute the Court was in session, silence fell over the Court as the nine Justices walked in and took their places.  Everyone there, Judge, lawyer, guests, the employees, tourists, all showed the respect this Honorable Court deserved. The Chief Justice opened the session by admitting new attorneys and called the first case, and the arguments began. The argument that morning was right up my alley as I enjoy Civil Procedure. I've read argument transcripts before, but it was more interesting seeing it live with the Justices prodding the lawyers and each other. After the allotted hour,  I headed back out towards the US Capital and Mall,  hoping that one day, I may get the chance to stand before that Court as an advocate rather than as a spectator. 

In contrast to that busy morning at the Supreme Court,   I stopped by the Courthouse in the middle of the night to take the photograph pictured above,  all was quiet.  There were no lawyers, tourists, judges at that time. Just that majestic old building which is Constitutionally empowered to uphold the law of the land; the Constitution.