Diamonds in the Sky on Vero Beach!

In my last post I wrote about photographing silhouettes on Vero Beach this past weekend   http://jpweddingphotograpy.blogspot.com/2011/06/candid-silhouettes-on-vero-beach.html. That post features different people relating to the ocean. At one point I turned and looked up the beach to my left and saw this amazing sky, the kind that in Sci Fi movies the mothership of the invading aliens is hiding! Well, there were no alien ships which was a good thing, (although I can't help but think what a great photo opportunity that would have been)! As soon as I looked up the words "Lucy in The Sky" popped into my head. I'm a child of the 60s, what can you expect! There was a small group of people walking on this part of the beach and I started following them. I wanted them in the picture as a point of scale, I think they help the viewer see how large the sky looked to me that night. I did not want them to know I was photographing them, wanting a more natural look plus I knew that it would be hard to recognize any of them the way I was planning on photographing the scene. I was planning on keeping them small in the frame, emphasizing the sky.I kept my distance from them and kept photographing, looking for different compositions.Keeping my exposure set for the sky and not for the people, the cloud formation was changing pretty quickly, kind of a swirling effect. I think this next one is my favorite!
   As I was shooting I saw a woman walking towards this group of      people.I just had a feeling they were altogether so I started photographing her. When the young girl ran towards her, I knew I was right. It was easy to see that the young girl was really excited to see her mother. She started to run down the beach with her arms waving as if she was saying, "Look mom, look at this great beach!"  After I was through photographing them we started talking to the family and found out not only did they come from Massachusetts, (which is where Phyllis and I lived for years) but the father was friends with my niece, Sheena. Imagine being down here on a beach, far from where our home was for many years, and meeting them. It is a very small world. I love photography for many reasons but one is the people I meet while shooting. It seems we meet such great people all over the world and when I have my camera with me it provides opportunities to meet and speak with them.
As I look at these images I am reminded how much I love our move to Florida. I know this country and the world has many beautiful places. But for Phyllis and I living where we can go out for dinner and I can photograph the ocean and these great skies within 300 yards of our table is more evidence that we are in the right spot at the right time in our lives.I never found out this little girl's name but I'd like to think it was Lucy!!