Today I decided to share four of my favorite views of different places I have been. These pictures were nowhere near professionally taken or edited, they're just pictures of some spots I really enjoyed. Hopefully you'll find some joy in them too.
Dolphin Research Center, Florida Keys
This picture was taken at one of my favorite places. The Dolphin Research Center is located in the Florida Keys and has been housing and researching dolphins for years. I have been here twice, once when I was 13 and once a year or two ago, and the place never ceases to amaze me. I've always had an interest in biology and marine life and this place really brings it all together. I'm sure thousands of people and groups have had their picture taken in the spot pictured above, and it looks like a fairly generic tropical scene, but it is one of the pictures I look back on and really feel happy about all of my experiences there.
Some Clouds in Georgia?
When I first looked at this picture I thought the sky was fake. Up close it looks like someone went in and added it later on. I probably could have done some sort of editing on this picture to make it look prettier, but then it would look even faker to me. I titled this image "Georgia?" because I honestly do not know where this picture is from for sure. When I found it on my phone it said it was taken in Georgia, but I've only ever been to the state once and it was just to drive through. I guess it will remain a mystery until someday in the distant future I remember out of nowhere where that picture I took years ago was taken.
Anyway, I really liked how the clouds look like they are on the ground just beyond the trees, and how the light sky contrasts the dark road. Someone could probably analyze those clouds for shapes or signs, but I'm not really in that sort of mood at the moment, so that will have to wait for another author on another day.
Lake Erie, Ohio
I apologize for this image not being in landscape mode. Sometimes I forget one of the most basic things my high school german teacher taught me and take pictures with my phone upright, making it blatantly obvious that I just snapped this picture with my iPhone. Nonetheless, I find this to be a beautiful shot of the sun set on the lake. This picture was taken at a small campground called Turtle Creek somewhere east of Port Clinton Ohio on the sandy shoreline of Lake Erie. I loved how it looked like the sun was exploding against the water, shooting beams of light all around. The picture itself describes the area very well; the beach grass slowly transitioning into sand, the small boat parked just off the shore, the lawn chairs sprawled about, the electric meter for the next campsite not even in use, and of course the dog laying down in the sandy grass (any picture with a dog gets bonus points in my book).
Kings Canyon, California
If you've by chance read some earlier posts by me, you've seen a few pictures of Kings Canyon, or at least heard me talk about it (I feel like a broken record sometimes but I just feel I took some nice pictures others might like to see). Someday I might get around to writing one long blog post about the trip in its entirety, but as I stand right now I do not have nearly enough time for that. So, as another fragment to the infrequent installments of information about this trip, I present to you an area I hardly remember from the hike. I might be slightly biased but I absolutely love this picture. the clouds in the sky, the sun just slightly poking in on the top, and the mountains in the background, all working together to produce this incredible scene. As you can see in the picture, there are no people for miles around. The intense wilderness of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, or really any actual wilderness left out there in the world, is truly breathtaking.