DSmithImages

One of the things I love about doing photography, especially wedding photography, is the ability to go different places for an assignment.  I am a big fan of the concept of hopping in the car one day, pointing it in a direction, and going someplace far and away.  Typically, though, I don’t have a lot of time to do any photography for pleasure during these wedding trips, but my most recent trip was a bit different.

I had a wedding assignment in the Destin, Florida area for the weekend, and my original plan was to drive down on a Friday and come back on a Sunday.  My parents offered to come on the trip as well, and we were able to stretch the visit from Thursday until Monday.  The extended stay gave me a chance to do a little travel photography, which is something I really wish to do more of in the future.  In fact, I wish I had been able to do photography of the small Alabama towns we passed through on the trip to Florida.  I made it a point, though, to go back to them in the future and continue my “Views from the Yellowhammer State” series.

We arrived on a Thursday afternoon when the weather was still sunny and promising.  It would soon change on us, though.  After unpacking and a trip to the beach, the agenda for the night was getting a bite to eat.  A friend had recommended “The Lighthouse”, a popular and well known place that was actually very close to our condo.  I’m glad they did recommended it because the meal was fantastic.  All in all, it was a good way to start our trip.

Friday came and with it came the fog.  It allowed me to get some nice, muted, minimalist style photos on the beach before we took a trip to the HarborWalk Village.  It was a collection of shops and restaurants built next to a big resort building.  The activity in the area was limited as Destin is still in the “Snow Bird” season before the Spring Break crowd arrives in the coming weeks.  The limited number of people was a nice change of pace from previous trips to the beach where it would be crawling with me.  The rest of Friday saw the rain arrive and business begin.  I met with the bride for a brief moment that evening to plan for the beach wedding the next day.  Unfortunately, the beach never happened.  It came an absolute downpour in Destin all day Saturday and forced the wedding indoors.  You’ll hear more about that in my blog post concerning the wedding.

Sunday, our last full day, was a complete change from the look of things on Saturday.  The sun was out and the sky was totally clear.  After a morning editing session, I went to the beach to get what I could.  It was a stark contrast to the past couple of days I had been down there, and I was glad I could get some photos that showed a range.  Our last evening saw us go to The Baytowne Wharf, another shopping and restaurant complex built around a golf course community.  It too was sparse on activity, but it was laid out rather nicely and had a very nice pier that extended into the Choctawhatchee Bay.  The seemingly untouched grassy areas by the bay made for a great visual end to the trip.

Come Monday, we loaded the car and headed back to Alabama.  It was a very nice trip, even with the beach wedding being rained out Saturday.  I was very glad my parents got to go with me on this “working vacation”.  I looked forward to more trips like this in the coming year.  We’ll be visiting Hartford, Connecticut in August and the Maryland area in October.  In the mean time, though, you can take a look at the photos from this trip by visiting http://www.dsmithimages.com/site/travel/destin-2012/1/

Enjoy!

-David
DSmithImages
“Modern Photography for Modern Times”
http://www.dsmithimages.com
david@dsmithimages.com
2314 Starlight Drive, Tuscaloosa, AL 35405
205-586-9723