Privateer Lynx

/ Michael Glover

I had read about this ship coming in to Tampa from Fort Myers called Lynx. The arrival date was set for January 15th. It is a replica of an 1812 warship complete with cannons and full sails. Its path into Tampa would take it through St. Petersburg and under the Sunshine Skyway bridge. It seemed like the perfect photo opportunity so I decided to make the two hour drive down there.

I did some research online to see if I could find the exact time it would be sailing under the bridge, but I had no luck. I went to the website of the ship and contacted their main office. I was told that the ship would be sailing under the bridge at 9:00 am. The next step was looking at Google maps to determine the best shooting location. The south fishing pier looked promising as it was about as close as you could get to the center of the bridge. Also for that time of day the sun would be behind me and should have provided some nice light. I got to the pier around 8:15 and setup my tripod. The sky was kind of overcast so the lighting unfortunately was flat and dull. The wind was blowing so I had to hold my lens steady on the tripod to make sure my photos were sharp. This wasn’t exactly the image I had planned on getting but you have to accept the hand you are dealt and roll with it. In the end though  I was very happy!

In post processing the first image I added a texture to give it a vintage post card look. Kind of like old meets new.

Please be sure to click on each of the images below to view the larger and sharper versions!

The Passage of Time

After the ship sailed under the bridge, I watched it for a few minutes and decided it was time to head to Tampa. I read online that when it was going to be in Tampa that the sails would be down. Since it was scheduled to arrive in downtown Tampa at 12:00 noon, I figured that should give me plenty of time to get another shot of it with the sails still up. When I got over there I drove out to a park that has a nice long fishing pier. I got there about 10:30 and didn’t see any signs of the ship. I waited around for awhile and thought “what if it already passed through here and I missed it?” I took the gamble and left to head to it’s destination – The Tampa Convention Center.  I ended up beating it there by about 30 minutes.

I went up to the observation deck at the back of the convention center to see if I could spot it. When I saw it coming in they had already pulled the sails down. I missed the shot I had planned out in my head but now I had decent lighting so I was still happy. Once the ship was situated in the harbor I went to work. The final image I made is an HDR composed of 6 brackets.

Privateer Lynx

The ship is going to be going back and forth between Tampa and St. Pete until March 13th so I am hoping to get back down there for some more pics.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post. Please consider leaving a comment as I always enjoy hearing from my visitors! 😀

23 thoughts on “Privateer Lynx”

  1. Wonderful photos, there is something magical about the old sailing ships. My great grandfather sailed on the tea clippers from 1855 til the 1880s. I think the romance of the sail is in my blood. I love your shot with the sails down. Thanks for posting them!

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    • Thank you for the wonderful comments! That is so cool to have a family member who sailed on those ships. I agree with you about the magical. I would love to go sailing on one of those ships. On the Lynx they actually have a port to port sailing excursion you can go on which would be really amazing to do!

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  7. I love the first image especially – it absolutely does look like an old postcard. I’m just getting into textures and Photoshop actions and I’m always amazed at the results … it’s quite artistic and often very graphic, which is my background. Impressed with how much thought you put into these images – it’s no wonder they’re always a cut above everyone else’s!

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    • Thank you Paige! I always appreciate the feedback. I never really used textures but I always thought they were really cool when I saw them. This photo seemed to work really well with it. Thank you for the kind words!

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  8. Really beautiful shots my friend! The light is fabulous and the ships look magical… made me remember how much I love and miss sailing… remembering preferences and priorities is important… thank you!

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