the daily flashkube

Gasparilla Festival of the Arts @ Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park

I watched with amusement as trucks pulled on to the then dirt acreage with pallets and pallets of brown, seemingly dead, sod. I was sure the person in charge would take one look and send the drivers back to the soon to be out of business nursery from whence they came. When workers started actually laying down sheets of  it I was shocked. There was no way they could resurrect the grass in time for the grand opening. However, when the big day came the park was covered with a carpet so green you’d think they were about to shoot a Scott’s television commercial. Only later did I learn the green had been spray-painted on. It sounds crazy, but the practice is not uncommon, especially at golf courses.

This image was shot from my balcony looking down at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park just the other day. As you can see, the faux greenery has washed away and it once again looks patchy and brown. (To be fair, it looks much worse from above than at ground level.) Sod has always baffled and amazed me. As a child of suburbia, I’ve witnessed countless failed sod jobs. I suppose it’s not so different from transplanting trees, just with a ridiculously poor success rate.

Above: In a surprising move, the City of Tampa decided to take seriously the fragile, pale skin of redheads this week by beginning construction on a “trellis shade structure” at the newly renovated Curtis Hixon Park in Downtown Tampa’s river arts district. After the park’s grand opening, the biggest complaint from redheads was the lack of shade. The influence of the redhead community on government decision making is apparently quite vast. Some speculate that Tampa’s redhead population has been grossly underestimated. Others say the group is particularly adept at whining. The actual source of their power is yet to be determined.

Above: In a related story, the mouth-breathers were also placated by the City of Tampa when they complained that Curtis Hixon Park had a serious lack of lazy boy chairs. Unlike the pale whining redhead situation, city officials only met the mouth-breathers half way. According to a sign in the window of the park’s offices, chairs will be “scattered” over the grounds. A mouth-breather spokesman told reporters that his people are “happy with the outcome, but hope the chairs are placed reasonably close to each other.” He went on to say there would be political backlash from his group if they are forced to walk too far between chairs. (Also according to the sign, we will soon be served drinks while hanging out inside a Microsoft Windows desktop wallpaper.)

Today I spent the day at the museum, park, and library. While there I stopped by the Skanska trailer on Twiggs to say hello to Meoi Plummer. Plummer and her team built Curtis Hixon Park and the Tampa Museum of Art. They have also been following my blog and photos. They had very kind words for me. Thanks Meoi for all your hard work. The park and museum are a beautiful addition to downtown! It was an honor to meet you and shake your hand.

All joking aside (see satirical news story in italics above), I think the shade trellis is a good move. I’m very happy that nothing will be constructed on the great lawn. Downtown needs a place to stretch out and run around. The chairs and tables will also be a nice addition.

I did walk by the unfinished Glazer Children’s Museum to check on its progress. They are putting up these mosaic pieces (below) on either side of the main entrance. A contractor told me they are going to be spirals when finished. It seems like DeLotto is moving much slower than Skanska, but that may be a funding problem. (And it may just be that I have a bias in favor of my new friends. :P )

Tampa Theater puts on Sunset Cinema in parks and outdoor venues. On Saturday they held one at Curtis Hixon Park in honor of the Tampa Museum of Art grand opening. What film did they show? “Night at the Museum” of course! The kids had a blast, including our toddler. Tampa Theater brings out a mini concession with movie popcorn, candy, and soda. Although it was quite cold, turnout was high. It began drizzling halfway through and some people left, but it didn’t last long.

The objective for me was experimenting with long exposures. I used a tripod and cable release for all of the images below. With the exception of fireworks, I have never done this type of photography before. Focus was difficult in the low light. Noise and color were the biggest challenges in post processing. I did the best I could with the time I was willing to spend on it. Lesson learned: Night photography is really not my thing.

When I was at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park yesterday morning, I grabbed these shots of the many gulls there. I love to watch birds in flight. (Sometimes I lay on the couch to read and get distracted by the turkey vultures flying around the buildings in Downtown Tampa. I’ve spent hours watching them while daydreaming.) They are welcome as far as I’m concerned. (As long as the droppings are washed away regularly. :P ) Like the photographs posted yesterday, these were shot semi-casually with an Olympus E-P1.

This year we decided to watch the Gasparilla festivities from our balcony. They extended the parade down Ashley drive for the first time to end at the new Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park across the street from our building. It was wild being able to see the boat invasion from start to finish, the parade, and the after party/concert (Collective Soul) all from the comfort of our home.

First, here are some blackberry pics showing my setup.

(above) What you see here is basically a wind kit. I switched to a pan-tilt head and lowered it to rest against the leg intersection for more stability. I removed the enormous lens hood from the 70-300mm because it was catching a lot of air. That bag has about five Microsoft Press books in it to weigh the whole thing down. I’m also using a cable release. Live view in tripod mode is what I used for composition. This view also allowed me to zoom in pixel close to adjust focus. Exposure and focus were both set manually.

(above) This was my view for the pirate invasion.

(above) Just as the ship began coming into view, it started to drizzle. Although my camera is designed to withstand light rain, I just don’t like the idea. It turned out the umbrella was also a great wind shield.

Below are the resulting photographs. It was rainy and hazy all day so the images were heavily post-processed to correct. Not my best work but an exercise in armchair photojournalism nonetheless.

Check out the videos below to get an idea of what we were able to hear from thirty floors up. The wind crossing the mic got in the way somewhat, but the band pictured above sounded clear as a bell. At the end of each video you can see the floats coming across the Platt St bridge.

The first set I did of the park consisted mostly of images depicting the new Tampa Museum of Art and the unfinished Glazer Children’s Museum. When my wife pointed this out I scoffed. But when a project manager at the architecture firm for TMA emailed me about my wonderful photographs of their museum, I knew she was right. (Pardon the ego slip.) I ended up changing the title of that post to “Riverfront Park and Museums.” (Hey, we all make mistakes.) So, as promised, here are the photographs I made on Monday morning of the park grounds. If they look a little HDRish it’s because I’m still getting used to the low dynamic range of the Olympus E-P1. Although I shoot in raw, the images have less range and data to work with than raw files from my Nikon D300.

On a related note, I was called a “normal ass citizen” by skater and fellow Skypoint resident Rob Meronek. Thanks for the link on your blog Rob and it’s nice to meet you too. (By the way, there is a photo of you holding your camera in Stalker Steve’s post. What the fuck happened to the front of your grip?) Anyway, check out Rob at skateparkoftampa.com and if you didn’t see my post of the grand opening, you can find it here.

UPDATE: A photograph of the playground was accidentally omitted from this post when originally published. It is now the 6th image below.

The people came.

They came in number.

The modest mayor stood…

…and smiled.

She spoke passionately to the people.

She removed those holding skateboards.

She cut ribbon.

The band played…

…and they sang…

…and the people danced.

This post is intentionally tongue in cheek. I wish I had time to switch to my wide lens when the police threw out the skateboarder during Iorio’s speech. Janet Zink did a great little piece for the St. Petersburg Times called “Tampa’s Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park opens to mostly rave reviews” that mentions the incident.

Not everyone was pleased with their experience, though. During the park’s first day open to the public, police officers had their first confrontation with skateboarders, pressuring a group of fewer than a dozen to leave the festivities.

The confrontation occurred just after Iorio was telling the crowd: “This park is for everyone.”

“Except for skateboarders!” hollered 26-year-old Seamus Gallagher.

“Except for skateboarders,” echoed Iorio.

I found this video showing a confrontation between skateboarders and police earlier in the day. It then jumps ahead to Janet Zink interviewing one of the group after the mayor’s speech. (Incidentally, the guy rapping with the long hair at the end lives in my building. I saw him today in the elevator and asked him about the incident. He said they get ticketed all the time just for using their boards as transportation.)

The battle between skateboarders and police has been going on since the invention of the wheel. I think maybe both sides have been at each other so long that these clashes are like breathing. The uploader of the video, meronek, had this to say in his description:

Imagine breaking down a huge wall with caveman tool. The first few times you hit, it’s a small chip or maybe even just a scratch. Keep hitting and eventually the chips get bigger and chunks of the wall start to come down. At the Curtis Hixon Park Grand Opening, I’d like to think we put some large chips in the wall. We showed up with skateboards, got the usual harassment from police, and made our little statement. During all this, Mayor Pam Iorio mentioned in her speech that the Park is for everyone except skateboarders. The news your dad reads added one extra word to the title of the story about the grand opening, “Tampa’s Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park opens to mostly rave reviews.” The Mayor’s words and that word “mostly” in the title of the news story is the dent we put in the wall. And, we had a damn good time doing it as you can see in a few minutes of footage below.

Iorio’s speech will likely appear on the CTTV website in the near future. I wonder if they will leave it unedited.

These photographs were made on the morning of Saturday, January 23rd, the day before the grand opening of Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in Downtown Tampa. My wife and I have been waiting for this park to open since we moved to a condo across the street about a year ago. They finally opened it to the public and the results are amazing. I don’t have time to write an entire article about the park because we are on our way down to see Mayor Pam Iorio do the dedication and let the kids do all the activities they will have. Enjoy these first images of this great addition to Tampa.

UPDATE: My wife made the comment that these are actually images of the museums and not the park. I think she has a point. This morning (Jan. 25) I went out with my E-P1 and focused more on the park. Those will be posted shortly.

UPDATE 2: The project manager for TMA wrote me to compliment me on my photographs. Now I know I focused too much on the museums! Maybe I should just re-title this post. :)