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The 2012 Book of Lists Party – My Favorite Night EVER!

/ Michael Glover / 24 Comments
I just had the opportunity to be involved in what was probably the most exciting evening of my life. I had an invitation to an exclusive party at the Tampa Bay Times Forum to celebrate with the people who made it into the 2012 Book of Lists – a book published annually by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Months back I had entered one of my photographs in the books yearly search for artists. They wanted pictures representing the Tampa Bay area. I entered a picture that I had taken of beautiful downtown Tampa looking across the waterway. I was so excited in October when I found out I was one of the 13 artists chosen to be in the book! As time got closer to the publish date I could not WAIT to see it. The book was scheduled to come out on December 23rd. On December 22nd I received a call from the production director and she said she wanted to congratulate me personally because I made this years cover! I had no idea – it was a complete and awesome surprise! The party was incredible. Close to 800 people comprised of the executives who made it in the book of lists and their guest attended the party. There was tons of delicious food and drinks at every turn. The entertainment included an aerial artist, a band called the Vodkanauts – who were great! – a magician, and an ice carver just to to name a few. I got to walk the red carpet and pictures were taken of all the guests with fresh fake snow! Haha! The book cover was displayed everywhere and the highlight for me was seeing it displayed on the Jumbo Tron right in the middle of the forum through the entire night. It was truly a magical evening I will never forget. I am honored that I got to be part of such a wonderful night. This is definitely something to go down in my memory book.

Click on first picture to view gallery:

Reflections

/ Michael Glover / 21 Comments

On Sunday I got to take a long overdue break and relax for a day at Disney! I started out at the Magic Kingdom and ended the day at Epcot. I always enjoy the fireworks show Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. It’s usually a challenge to try and find a new spot to shoot from to keep it fresh. I had scouted out a spot the last time I was there. On my way to that spot I caught a glimpse of the water and the idea of getting the fireworks reflecting in the water got to me. I walked around to find the best place to stand to get what I was looking for. I really like the colors in this and the way the streaks kind of look like wheat stalks blowing in the wind!

Silence Is Golden

/ Michael Glover / 9 Comments

When you live in Florida I think it’s mandatory to take pictures of boats and sunsets 🙂 But seriously they just fit like a great pair of shoes. I live just up the street from the beach and the marina. It’s a great place to go just to unwind from a long day even if you don’t take a camera. There wasn’t a lot of clouds but there was enough that it looked like it might be a decent sunset. So I ventured down to the beach to see what I could capture. The water was calm and peaceful as the sun was dipping down and creating this beautiful golden backdrop. I got lost  in the silence and for a little bit it felt like I was the only person on Earth. The reflection of the boats was calming as this scene unfolded before my eyes.

Bald River Falls

/ Michael Glover / 5 Comments

To get this shot required a long day of driving. I started out in Gatlinburg, Tennessee early in the morning and drove through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Townsend. From Townsend I picked up the Foothills Parkway to Chilhowee where this shot was taken on a previous day. Not far from here is the beginning of the exciting “Tail of the Dragon”.  Biker enthusiasts from all over travel to drive this spectacular winding road that covers 318 curves in 11 miles.  I ventured through here and it was an awesome drive in a car. Riding a bike through there one day is definitely on my bucket list!  At the end of the “Dragon” I traveled on to Fontana Dam in North Carolina and ended up in Robbinsville to drive across the beautifully scenic Cherohala Skyway, it was absolutely breathtaking.  Before reaching the end of the skyway I saw a sign for a waterfall. I decided to take that road and see what I would find. The road to get to the falls is an old service road that runs along the river with LOTS of photo opportunities along the way. When I finally arrived this is what I saw!

This spectacular waterfall is situated in the Cherokee National Forest. Cascading down over the rocks at about 100 feet the sound of the rushing water is something to behold in person.

I ended the day with an awesome bar-b-que sandwich at a little family restaurant called “Nut-n-Fancy” in Tellico Plains, Tennessee.  Then I came full circle back to Gatlinburg after a very long, not planned out day of exploring.  Started the morning just seeing where I ended up – My favorite kind of day!

Peaceful Twilight

/ Michael Glover / 10 Comments

This is a shot from my recent road trip in March. After driving across the Foothills Parkway from Townsend, Tennessee to Chilhowee I arrived at this location with the light fading fast. This beautiful lake was right in front of me!  I pulled off the road because I knew I had to get a shot. When I stepped out of the car it was very dark and very quiet. All you could hear were the faint sounds of the night critters. Directly behind me was a dark shadowy wall of mountains. I setup my tripod to capture this scene. The air was very still and I knew I needed a long exposure to capture this the way it looked when I was there. I set my camera to 30 seconds and pressed the remote. When the image appeared on the screen after what seemed like an eternity, I knew I had what I wanted. I will never forget this night because it was so peaceful and I felt like I wanted to just stay there for hours and listen to the quiet! 🙂