The Beach Life in New Smyrna

The following photographs are a series taken to document the beach and town of New Smyrna. If you’ve ever been to New Smyrna Beach, then you know that I have hundreds of other photos I couldn’t post here because there’s a lot to photograph. If you have never been, than here’s a quick taste! Enjoy…


The Jimmy Lane Surfing Academy bus left parked on new Smyrna Beach while instructors give lessons.

New Smyrna Lifeguard

A New Smyrna Beach lifeguard stares into the open ocean instead of watching swimmers.

Three-wheeled buggies cruise the beaches.

cars on new smyrna

Beach goers, cars and hotels share the New Smyrna Beach coastline


kids surfing

Two young boys eagerly take their surfboards out to the waves.

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An Environmental Portrait

Taking an “environmental portrait” was our next project in my photography class, and I couldn’t resist grabbing my camera and heading to downtown Orlando  An environmental portrait is typically of a person or a few people in their environment. Sometimes you can depict exactly where they are, and sometimes it’s a little more vague. These types of portraits tend to “freeze” people in time, allowing you to look back at the photo years later and see the differences from that time period.

What I enjoyed most about the three photos I chose below is that they all depict different kinds of people, all within the same place and time. They’re very different and yet all connected, which speaks volumes about the diverse nature of the city.

downtown orlando man

couple at lake eola

I have to explain the below photo, because Ricky would want me to. I was walking around Lake Eola when a man shouted to me to take his photo. I turned and saw the man in the photo below sitting on the ledge. He asked again if I’d take his picture, so I said “sure!” I looked down at my camera to get the settings straight, and by the time I looked up, this motley crew of friends had come together, ready for their close-up. After I took the photo and looked at the playback feature on my camera and saw how great it was to have captured this group of friends. I actually ended up seeing Ricky later too, walking around the lake, and he said he hoped to see that photo in the newspaper. This was the best I could do.
downtown orlando friends

Meditation Dedication

meditation orlando

I took a walk in downtown Orlando this morning and came across a group of people meditating next to Lake Eola. It’s the first time I’ve seen them there, but every time I take a walk downtown I find something I haven’t seen before. They had music playing and were probably there for at least an hour, which is pretty impressive with the heat reaching the upper 90′s by then. It takes some real concentration to meditate in Orlando’s humidity, so I have to give props to these people and their dedication.

Round and Round We Go

Grand Central Station New York

I took this photo at Grand Central Station while watching New Yorkers and tourists hustle to their destinations.

Summer is upon us, this I know for sure. Every part of my life is in full gear from work, weddings, photo classes, family, dog, work, vacations, flights, graduations, bridal showers…did I say work? It’s all swirling as if I were on a merry-go-round, jumping off occasionally to get my bearings, and then around and around we go again. I will say I’m excited for what this year has in store, and have a feeling it will be a good one to look back on, but I’m also trying to avoid it all becoming one big, busy blur.

And isn’t that always the case? Sometimes we try to cram in so much all at once, whether it be on a weekend or over a holiday, that what we’re doing becomes less enjoyable. For instance, my husband and I are contemplating going to Europe in the fall, and at first I thought wouldn’t it be nice to see as much of Europe as we can in just two weeks!? After doing some reading though, I’ve come to realize that picking just a handful of cities to see will be so much more memorable, not to mention easier on my camera.

Maybe this post will serve as a reminder to me (or maybe even you) that over the next few months we should take our time and enjoy the company we keep more often, because before we know it we’ll be buying Christmas presents and saying, “Where did the year go?”

Kung Fu Fighting

I attended the Wah Lum Kung Fu presentation a few weeks back, celebrating its 30 year anniversary, but I was mainly there to see a friend of mine perform. His portion of the program kicked butt as he was dressed up as Darth Maul doing some pretty insane moves, but unfortunately the guy in front of me had a big noggin and whichever way I leaned, so did he. So about 85% of my photos include him and I couldn’t get many good shots of my friend. Here are the few I did get.

Kung Fu Fan

Kung Fu Performance

Kung Fu Swords

Kung Fu

Kung Fu Nails