Island Visions

Paul & Maureen Tie the Knot!

2009-12-08T14:10:00.003-05:00

Paul and Maureen and a host of friends and guests gathered on the beach behind Holiday Inn to celebrate their nuptials just before a beautiful Florida sunset recently.

Then, after a stroll on the beach for a "photo opp" everyone moved inside to Holiday Inn's delightful Pincher's Restaurant for dinner and dancing.

In the formal style, the bride wore a long white wedding dress and the groom a tuxedo -- but they and the entire wedding party went barefoot in the sand. That's what I call a formal wedding, Beach style!

Sanibel Cottages Resort Wedding

2009-12-08T14:27:00.006-05:00

In a brightly decorated gazebo in the middle of a lake at Sanibel Cottages Resort, Larry and Feita and a few close friends gathered to watch them exchange their wedding vows.

Afterwards, the bride and groom walked to the beach front to enjoy a picture taking session culminated with Larry gathering Feita in his arms and twirling her around in the surf, her beautiful red dress contrasting with the blue-green Gulf of Mexico waters.

I consider it a privilege to be able to capture memories like this happy couple shared that day, and will continue to share through their photos and their memories.

Fall Wedding on the Beach

2009-12-01T12:04:00.003-05:00

Leo and Krystal enjoy a moment alone on the beach after their beachside ceremony. The beautiful ceremony with family and friends included a bagpiper leading the processional, and the fall colors of the bride's gown perfectly matched the glow of the sunset!

Giving Back

2009-12-08T13:08:00.002-05:00

I've always been a believer in giving back to the community in which I live, and I was honored to provide pro bono photography services to the Snook Bight Marina/Bayfront Bistro sponsored Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer fundraiser held recently.

"All Aboard Against Breast Cancer" raised $70,000 for Breast Cancer Awareness, and I'm proud to be a small part of that effort.

Flying Fun!

2009-12-08T12:40:00.005-05:00

There's nothing I like better than aerial photography. Seeing the world from 200 feet up, from a helicopter with the doors off, is like having a magic carpet ride!

I recently had the opportunity to photograph each of the 18 holes at Kelly Greens Golf Course from "up close and personal". We spent an hour crisscrossing the beautiful tees, greens and waterways of this outstanding course.

Calusa Blueway Paddle

2009-11-09T16:21:00.005-05:00

Recently 60 or so of the several hundred intrepid paddlers of the 4th annual Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival gathered at San Carlos RV Park & Resort mid-way through the 10 day event and posed for a photograph commemorating their adventure, and we were please to be able to record that group for posterity (not to mention selling prints to participants).
Prints can be ordered here

Love on the Beach

2009-09-30T14:50:00.012-04:00

Haley and Brandon were married in Tennessee last week and spent their honeymoon on Fort Myers Beach.

Tuesday we went to Lover's Key State Park and spent an hour exploring the beach, the park trails and the lagoon with it's pretty arched wooden bridge, resulting in some spectacular Honeymoon Portraits of this loving couple.

For a look at Haley & Brandon's Top 10 Picks, click here.

Beach Wedding....Reception in the Park

2009-09-14T17:50:00.012-04:00

Lover's Key State Park (with a name like that it's a natural for weddings) is one of my favorite place for small, informal weddings, and recently Kathy & Timothy exchanged vows on the beach at sunset, then followed the small (5 people including me) wedding with an impromptu but well planned reception held under the trees on a picnic bench just off the beach in a beautiful, shaded part of the park.

They brought the tablecloth, cake, champagne, glasses and all the goodies to do a "tailgate reception" with flair and ambiance.

Love those informal weddings!

P. S. The raccoons didn't steal our goodies.

Beach Kids

2009-08-25T17:35:00.010-04:00

Kids on the beach are so much fun! Challenging, but fun. We started off with this "formal" pose, but then we quickly switched to much more interesting and fun poses in and around the water.

I call this series "splash the photographer" and Parkes did a pretty good job of it! Lucy and Charlotte tried, too, but I came out OK with a great series of "action" images Worth a little salt water!

Then the sunset happened just as the pirate ship sailed into port behind them, and it was hard to belive it was raining just a few minutes before we started the session.

Back to the Beach

2009-06-26T16:55:00.005-04:00

Last week found us at the beach at Bowditch Point for a couple of family sessions in between our frequent rains.

Working around the boats dredging Matanzas Pass, we were still able to get a beautiful sunset photo after a day of rain.

There's nothing like a lightly clouded sky to reflect the sun's setting rays back into the sky in patterns of blue, red, orange and magenta.

Magnificent!

Red, White and Boom!

2009-07-16T16:06:00.004-04:00

July Fourth found us on the beach again, photographing a July 4th wedding just before the town fireworks display lit up the entire sky.

The bride and groom had an American flag decor for their reception, and just before sunset we meandered down to the shoreline to capture them in front of a beautiful Florida sunset.

Boom!

Beach Wedding

2009-05-11T14:48:00.005-04:00

Saturday night found us on the beach, photographing a lovely wedding on the wide, white sand beach of the Holiday Inn.

Sara and Canaan "tied the knot" before a crowd of family and friends and then Sara, Canaan and I ventured out to the lagoon at Little Estero Island and then on to the beach for a glorious sunset photo session.

Then we all returned to the Inn's banquet room for a reception with dancing, great food, tearful toasts, and loads of fun.

Tough job, but somebody's got to do it!

Blues on the Green

2009-05-07T15:38:00.005-04:00

Fort Myers Beach's Island Arts Foundation sponsored a two day "Blues on the Green – the Seaside Soul Serenade" event this past weekend. It was a fantastic array of great Blues artists, blue skies, great food, cold beer and "Yahoo" watermelon...a real down-home experience on our sunny island paradise's Golf Course.

Here's Sean Carney and the "Queen of Boogie Woogie" Wendy DeWitt jamming on Saturday.

A particularly rewarding experience, made all the more so by seeing that there was not one single piece of litter left on the ground any time during the concert -- We're a pretty environmentally aware group of folks here on the island, and it showed in how we treated the venue.

Spring Break Time!

2009-03-09T13:03:00.006-04:00

It's Spring Break here on our island paradise. Each year loads of college students converge on Fort Myers Beach for sun, sand, adult beverages and entertainment. Mainly confined to the "touristy" north end of the island, they bring, along with skimpy swimsuits, suspiciously large beverage containers and lots of money that helps our tourist economy. For the next month or so we'll be hosting our Spring Breakers along with our usual mix of "snowbirds" and family vacationers.

Being a photographer, you'd think I'd be posting a photo or two from the middle of the crowd, but I stay as far away from the north end of the island as I can this time of year, when going four miles can take over an hour, so here's a photo of our little island paradise. See the Spring Breakers? Look closely, now.

Easter Sunrise

2009-04-12T11:39:00.002-04:00

We've just returned from an Easter Sunrise Service, on the beach. What a sight! Hundreds of folks gathered on our white sand beach by the pier, with a thick fog to the east (no sunrise that we could see!) but with the moon visible over the ocean, and waves gently lapping the shoreline. The sounds of voices raised in song, and birds beginning to stir in the trees. Sublime!

Fireworks + Marriage = Fun!

2009-04-09T17:29:00.004-04:00

Wow, I just booked a sunset wedding for July 4th. What's so exciting about that is we have a huge public fireworks display on the Pier here on the island (not to mention many elaborate private displays despite a law against it) and it starts a half hour or so after sunset.

So Amanda & Andrew are going to be married at 7 PM, we'll take pictures until sunset, and then they get to walk down the beach to see the fireworks displays all up and down the beach and at the Pier.

What a way to start a honeymoon!

Website Update

2009-03-18T18:55:00.004-04:00

Well, In my spare time (?) I've been busy learning a new web building program, Adobe DreamWeaver, and I've been playing with it (and tearing what little hair I have left out) and have made a new "home page" for my website, www.HesterPhotography.com.
Check it out!
I've focused more on my principal markets, beach portraits and beach weddings, on the new home page, with links to all the other stuff I still do like studio portraits, aerials, commercial photography, stock photography, graphic design, print brokering, etc.
But now my brides and destination families have a shortcut to what they want to know about beach weddings and family groups and reunions.
As soon as my hair grows back out I'll tackle some of the other pages!

First post

2009-03-06T13:57:00.001-05:00

After looking, lurking and reading a few blogs, many of which are from fellow professional photographers, I'm taking the plunge and starting a blog!