I must confess that up until a couple of Februarys ago I had never been in Miami, except for some stop-overs on longer journies.  Last year however, I did finally have the opportunity to get into town for a few hours.  I was there on other business, which pretty much consumed the entire three days.  Nonetheless, with a little finagling I was  able to put together about three hours of shooting time.

It has always been a frustrating experience for me to find myself in a place I have always wanted to shoot but then have just a few hours to do it.   My usual approach, if I don’t have specific destinations in mind, is to just start traipsing around in the most likely spots.  Before hand I try to check out the picture postcards on sale in the lobby for what those spots might be.  My aim is to get at least one “iconic” photo of the locale if possible,  but in the end I’ll be happy with whatever I can get.

This time I was there in the season of clouds and rain, although the temperature stayed in the benign mid-80s.  The absence of blue skies is not what one usually associates with the typical Miami photo.

So here’s what happened:

Miami_029

The Atrium of the Grand Hotel and Condominium

This was the view from my floor of the establishment in which I stayed.  I’m off to a good start when I can grab something right out the door (or window) of my room!

The Grand Hotel and Condominiums

The Neighbors

View of North Bay, Miami

View towards North Bay, Miami

Now I start my walk:

Miami River

The Miami River

When walking around downtown Miami, the architecture is definitely what imposes itself upon you.  The image below was the view just to the right of where I took the one above.

Rear entrance to a condo

Rear entrance to a condo

 

Downtown Miami Architecture

Downtown, Looking Up

Decorum (detail of "Male Torso, by  Colombian sculptor Fernando Boltero

Decorum (detail of “Male Torso, by Colombian sculptor Fernando Boltero)

An office window on Biscayne Blvd

An office window on Biscayne Blvd

Most cities, if not all, have a certain prevailing “feel”  in almost everything that is built within their borders that reflects their character.  Miami certainly does and what it is could be summed up in big, bold, solid color.

Most of the photos above were taken in a two-hour window we  had before getting back to the airport.  No matter what your time constraints are, just grab your camera, open your eyes, and go for a walk!

View of sunset and clouds from 32,000 feet

35,000 Feet

I still had some digits left in the camera for this spectacular sunset, somewhere over and between Florida and Texas.

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 [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orTcSb915BM]

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