Fotos by Carlos

Joel Sartore's Fundamentals of Photography series for The Great Courses has me trying to be more intentional about backgrounds in my fotos. One of the tricks I've been practicing for this is to use the sky as background. The beach was too crowded to get a clean background, so I pointed the camera up. This sign has loomed over a shopping center in Hialeah, FL (my favorite city!), since before I was born. It's pretty much instantly recognizable to anybody familiar with the area.

One of the great things about living in SoFla is that we're never very far from a beach. Miami Beach gets the attention, but I like Dania Beach, which is about an hour north and a lot less crowded. Below are some highlights. Not sure I want my camera around so much sand again, but at least there were some decent shots. Most of these were taken with a circular polarizing filter and all were taken with standard kit lens (I'm poor, guys). Dania Beach Pier Pelicans are some of my favorite birds. My girlfriend was very excited about the shells she found. I should take more vertical shots.